Wednesday

29th Mar 2023

MEPs call for 'values' in EU-Russia relations

The EU must put values such as free press and democracy at the centre of its new strategic pact with Russia, the European Parliament said in a Wednesday (25 October) statement on the killing of Russian reporter Anna Politkovskaya, as Brussels and Moscow gear up to start fresh treaty talks in November.

"[Parliament] calls on the European Commission and the EU member states to take a principled and consequent stand in the negotiations on a new Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA)...with a view to placing democracy, human rights and freedom of expression at the core of any future agreement and instituting a clear mechanism to monitor implementation," the formal resolution said.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

The statement paid tribute to Ms Politkovskaya - famous for exposing Russian abuses in Chechnya - as "a symbol of honest journalism in Russia" and "condemned in the strongest terms" the "cowardly crime" of her contract killing-style murder in Moscow on 7 October.

And it "voiced concern" over wider trends in Vladimir Putin's Russia, whose eight year rule has seen very few people brought to justice over the killings of several journalists and businessmen and whose recent NGO law reforms could see Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch driven out of the country.

"The EU should not sign up to any Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with Russia until freedom, transparency and rule of law have been established," British liberal MEP Graham Watson stated ahead of the resolution vote.

"Freedom of speech and human rights needs to be one of the main prerequisites for renewing the EU-Russia PCA," Estonian conservative MEP Tunne Kelam said. "Russia has become one of the deadliest countries [in the world] for journalists."

Parliament takes lead

European Parliament's president Josep Borrell took the lead in criticising Mr Putin at last week's EU-Russia summit in Lahti, Finland, along with Poland, Latvia and Sweden, while western member states France, Germany, the UK and Italy focused on pragmatic energy interests instead.

The Finnish EU presidency also took great pains not to offend the Russian leader at its Lahti dinner, while the European Commission continues to focus on getting access to Russian gas and oil for EU firms and building new pipelines to Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Brussels and Moscow will on 24 November in Helsinki launch formal negotiations on a post-2007 EU-Russia partnership treaty, with Russian EU ambassador Vladimir Chizhov recently indicating the draft text contains commitments on human rights but nothing on promotion of democratic standards.

Russia reacts

Russian investigators are currently chasing two ex-policemen, Alexander Prilepin and Valery Minin, in connection with Ms Politkovskaya's death, Russian daily Kommersant writes. The reporter's work helped expose the pair over killings in Chechnya and put their commander, Sergey Lapin, in jail.

Russian authorities are also conducting a broader investigation into Ms Politkovskaya's claims that a Kremlin-backed militia loyal to Chechnya prime minister, Ramzan Kadyrov, has killed and badly beaten regular Russian army personnel stationed in the war-torn region, UK daily The Independent says.

Talking about contract killings on Russian TV on Wednesday, president Putin said "I hope the work on such crimes will be brought to a solution. This also applies to the killing of journalists, as well as economic crimes," adding that civil society and a free press are "necessary" to help stamp out corruption.

Column

What does China really want? Perhaps we could try asking

Perhaps even more surprising to the West was the fact that the Iran-Saudi Arabia deal was not brokered by the United States, or the European Union, but by the People's Republic of China. Since when was China mediating peace agreements?

Opinion

Biden's 'democracy summit' poses questions for EU identity

From the perspective of international relations, the EU is a rare bird indeed. Theoretically speaking it cannot even exist. The charter of the United Nations, which underlies the current system of global governance, distinguishes between states and organisations of states.

Latest News

  1. EU approves 2035 phaseout of polluting cars and vans
  2. New measures to shield the EU against money laundering
  3. What does China really want? Perhaps we could try asking
  4. Dear EU, the science is clear: burning wood for energy is bad
  5. Biden's 'democracy summit' poses questions for EU identity
  6. Finnish elections and Hungary's Nato vote in focus This WEEK
  7. EU's new critical raw materials act could be a recipe for conflict
  8. Okay, alright, AI might be useful after all

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. EFBWWEFBWW and FIEC do not agree to any exemptions to mandatory prior notifications in construction
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic and Baltic ways to prevent gender-based violence
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Economic gender equality now! Nordic ways to close the pension gap
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Pushing back the push-back - Nordic solutions to online gender-based violence
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: The Nordics are ready to push for gender equality
  6. Promote UkraineInvitation to the National Demonstration in solidarity with Ukraine on 25.02.2023

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Azerbaijan Embassy9th Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council Ministerial Meeting and 1st Green Energy Advisory Council Ministerial Meeting
  2. EFBWWEU Social Dialogue review – publication of the European Commission package and joint statement of ETUFs
  3. Oxfam InternationalPan Africa Program Progress Report 2022 - Post Covid and Beyond
  4. WWFWWF Living Planet Report
  5. Europan Patent OfficeHydrogen patents for a clean energy future: A global trend analysis of innovation along hydrogen value chains

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us