Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-02-01-Speech-3-205-000"
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"en.20120201.15.3-205-000"2
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".
Mr President, Baroness Ashton, ladies and gentlemen, the presidential elections in Russia on 4 March will show whether the government in Moscow has learnt its lesson. They will make it clear whether the processes have been improved and whether we can hold out hope that there will be positive developments in this area.
However, the many demonstrations that have taken place since the beginning of December make me very hopeful. They are an indication that civil society is gaining strength and, therefore, for me they are also a sign of hope.
At the same time, the large-scale demonstration due to take place on Saturday also highlights the problem faced by the Russian opposition and the protest movement. The so-called systemic opposition parties, which are represented in the Duma, are to a large extent not regarded by the population as being a viable democratic alternative. The inclusion of the nationalists in the protest movement is, thank goodness, giving rise to heated debate. I believe that we need to show solidarity in particular with those who have joined the White Ring protest over recent days and weeks.
These citizens come from a wide range of different areas of society and are taking action to protect their civil rights, without having an ideological axe to grind and, most importantly, without any kind of self-interest. They do not want to form a government. Instead, they want the right to freely elect a government. This makes the movement even more convincing.
What Russia most urgently needs are state institutions and elected officials who have democratic legitimacy and the trust of their voters and who make a clear commitment to serving the interests of the voters and to combating corruption and other abuses of power. Therefore, we must give this movement our support now and make it increasingly clear in our discussions with our Russian partners that we are happy to cooperate with them, but that we also want to see joint progress being made towards more democracy.
Those of us who are members of the EU-Russia delegation will definitely be discussing this when we visit Moscow in eight weeks and it would be good if the Commission could play an active role in supporting the delegation."@en1
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