31.10.2007
EGP Co-Spokesperson Ulrike Lunacek
ends visit to Moscow
The Co-Spokesperson of the European Green
Party Ulrike Lunacek today concluded a 3-day visit to Moscow as part of a
delegation of the Greens/EFA
group
in the European Parliament. During the
visit, Green MEPs and Green members of national parliaments held meetings with opposition
politicians, Human Rights Activists and NGOS and environmental organisations.
These meetings focussed on the key topics of the upcoming parliamentary and
presidential elections in Russia,
EU-Russia relations, foreign affairs, environmental policy and nuclear energy,
democracy, human rights and press and media freedoms.
Ulrike Lunacek said : "This visit has given us a
valuable opportunity to improve the mutual understanding between ourselves as
elected representatives in the EU and key players in the Russian political landscape
and civil society. We were able to meet with leading figures in the country's
political opposition, including Grigory Yavlinsky, leader of the Yabloko party,
and Gary Kasparov of the "Other Russia" coalition. Government and
Kremlin as well as Duma or Gazprom representatives unfortunately rejected our
invitation to meet us - they confronted us with the option that we either meet
the opposition or government, but not both, let alone on the same panels. We
also very much regret that one of our interpreters, a Dutch citizen and NGO
activist on Chechnya, was stopped at Moscow airport despite having a visa, and
had to go back without participating in the event. This is totally unacceptable
behaviour on the part of the Russian authorities, especially after they had
already tried to withhold visas for MEPs and Greens/EFA Group staff.
A key theme of our meetings was the
important role that the EU can and indeed must play in supporting those in Russia fighting
for democracy and respect for human rights. As some of our main interlocutors
put it, Russia
does not only fall short of the standards expected of a well-functioning democracy
- it should not even be called a democracy but an authoritarian state. Opposition
groups and human rights activists we spoke to are convinced that EU leaders
must say this in a much more forceful and open way than is usually the case -
not just in private at lunch or dinner but also publicly at press conferences.
Additionally we question the idea of having a "strategic" partnership
between the EU and the Russian Federation
as long as the basic democratic principles do not have a chance in Putin's Russia. Of
course we are in favour of cooperation at several levels but a "strategic
partnership" only makes sense if basic principles are shared.
Regarding the future status of Kosovo, most of our interlocutors told us that
Russians cannot understand why some Western governments are pushing for
independence, even a unilateral one, whereas the same argument is not being
applied to Abkhazia. "Even if the situation in the two regions cannot be
compared, we have to take into account that this argument is being seen -
rightly or wrongly - by many in Russia as further evidence of double-standards
by the West, including the EU." said Lunacek.
Ulrike Lunacek continued: "Highlights of this trip
were a visit to the grave of the murdered journalist Anna Politkovskaya and to
the Solovezky memorial to the victims of political repression where the names
of those executed were read out. This visit as well as a guided tour through
the museum and archives of the Human Rights organisation “Memorial”
gave us a timely reminder of how precious political freedom is and how vigilant
we should all be when it comes to protecting those freedoms, in Russia, the EU
and elsewhere. A meeting with Human Rights NGOs at Memorial headquarters was
extremely informative and enabled us to gain a much clearer understanding of
the difficulties that NGOs and human rights activists are currently facing in
Russia, for example as a result of the new NGO law that makes administrative
life very complicated and time consuming, and how we can support them more
effectively. On the last day of our meeting we had a roundtable discussion with
Russian and foreign journalists about press and media freedoms and the
ways in which they are currently being grossly violated, as well as their
analysis of Putin's presidency . These topics are particularly important in the
run-up to the forthcoming parliamentary and presidential elections."
Graham Burgess
Communications Officer
European Green Party
Tel no :+32 2 626 0724
Mobile:+32 477 902
023
email:graham.burgess@europeangreens.org
www.europeangreens.org