Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-07-06-Speech-3-539-000"
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"en.20110706.26.3-539-000"2
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"Mr President, honourable Members, thank you very much again for this agenda item. I think it is important that we take time to reflect on the upcoming Russian elections. May I also thank Parliament for the resolutions on Russia. Your resolution of 9 June on the opening day of our most recent EU-Russia Summit had real impact. Of course, Russia is a partner with whom I work on a large number of foreign policy issues, but today, I want to just focus with you on the upcoming elections.
Let me close with a few remarks about other human rights and rule of law issues in Russia. I believe our Partnership for Modernisation opens new opportunities for cooperation in this field, and I welcome the joint project with the Council of Europe on reforming the appeal system for civil and criminal court cases in Russia.
I also welcome the opening of new forms of dialogue with civil society, in particular, the creation of an EU-Russia Civil Society Forum. Likewise, I welcome President Medvedev’s decision to examine the Khodorkovsky-Lebedev and Magnitsky cases. The conclusions of the Magnitsky case were presented yesterday, while those on the Khodorkovsky and Lebedev cases will take more time. Let me restate that in their cases, the second verdict was disappointing.
To conclude, Russia remains an essential partner for the EU and a challenging one. I think there is an interesting debate going on within the country about the modernisation of society and economy, and changing attitudes and expectations will materialise and shape the new realities.
The nine months ahead will be very important for Russia’s future development. We believe the democratic process must come from within Russia. We will continue to build our engagement, we will continue to build on our common interests, and we will continue to stand firmly behind our values.
I think a number of decisions have been taken recently in Moscow which give us some ideas as to what we can expect in December for the Duma elections, and in March 2012 for the presidential poll.
Russia is already in pre-election mode, with new party alliances and increasing debate. There are some encouraging signs: President Medvedev is calling for economic and political modernisation, and Finance Minister Kudrin insists on free and fair elections. At the same time, political pluralism still faces obstacles.
As honourable Members will be aware, on 22 June, the Russian Ministry of Justice refused to register the new liberal opposition People’s Freedom Party (PARNAS). Parliament here is, of course, fully aware of this case; one of the party’s leaders, Mr Kasyanov, has spoken here several times, and I met briefly with him today in Strasbourg.
The main reason given for the refusal to register this party was that a few minors, young people and people who were dead had been found among the party’s 46 000 members. Another of the Party’s leaders, Mr Ryzhkov, has rejected these claims as false or groundless. But, even if you exclude those people, he would say that the party would still have the required 45 000 members. Honourable Members know that the earlier political party, the Republican Party of Russia, met a similar fate in 2007, when authorities ordered its dissolution.
On 12 April 2011 this year, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg ruled that this dissolution was in violation of Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights. As far as I am aware, the authorities have not yet acted upon this judgment. PARNAS seems to have been denied registration on the basis of this very same and unchanged law.
The Court also noted that minimum party membership requirements in Russia are the highest in Europe. The Court was not persuaded that these requirements are necessary, and stressed that small minority groups must also have an opportunity to participate in elections. It said that frequently changing membership requirements, linked with regular checks, had imposed a disproportionate burden on political parties in Russia. I think that ruling should give the Russian leadership pause for thought.
At the EU-Russia Summit, we again emphasised the need for political pluralism. President Medvedev acknowledges that a focus on too much stability results in stagnation. Two weeks ago, he introduced a bill which would lower the threshold for parties to enter the Duma from the current 7% to 5% – but, of course, this only applies to the Duma elections in 2016. We know that the purpose of democratic elections is to give voters a real choice, and a sense that their vote matters for the outcome. Our main contribution is to offer election observation; consultations between Russia and OSCE/ODIHR are ongoing.
Russia seems keen to cooperate, and to avoid a repeat of the situation we saw in 2007, when it did not admit any long-term observers. Long-term observation is important, in particular, to be able to evaluate whether there is fair access to television and other media during the campaign. We received encouraging signals at the summit, and I look forward to a request being sent from Moscow to the OSCE. I am also sure that many honourable Members would be interested in participating in this observation."@en1
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