Storm denied that the comment constituted hate speech. “I will not accept being called a racist by political colleagues, and I take that kind of defamatory allegation very seriously,” he told POLITICO. “I don’t understand why Ms Al-Sahlani thinks it’s a reference to her ethnic background, country of birth, or heritage, and any interpretation suggesting otherwise is incorrect.”
“The phrase ‘go home’ was intended to mean that if she found the democratic decision and the reactions to it so distressing, she would have been better off leaving the chamber and taking time to reflect rather than accusing a big majority of political opponents of making her feel unsafe,” he added.
Al-Sahlani insisted the comment was “about racial exclusion.”
“I am home. I learned the language, studied, worked, paid taxes, became a Swedish citizen, and was elected to the European Parliament. In other words, I did everything we tell people is the European dream. Yet when I disagreed with a far-right politician, I was told to ‘go home,’” she told POLITICO.
Tynkkynen did not reply to a request for comment.
Following the right-wing lawmakers’ “send them home” chants in the hemicycle — which were countered by cries of “shame on you” by the opponents of the deal — the Social Democrats, Renew, Greens, and The Left filed a complaint to Metsola about what they said were “racist” comments, according to two people familiar with the matter, who added that Metsola said she would look into the issue.