On February 9, 2011, YABLOKO’s leader Sergei Mitrokhin
made a speech at the seminar Prospects and Challenges to Russian
Modernisation organised in the European Parliament by the
ALDE group.
Describing the present situation in Russia he said that "the
prospects for Russian modernisation are vague, when challenges
are real and numerous." Mitrokhin said that the main
challenges to for Russia were its totalitarian past and oligarchic
present.
"Our totalitarian past – the 70 years of communism –destroyed
not only Russian civil society, but even a society as such,
and eradicated the concept of property owners", Mitrokhin
noted. According to Mitrokhin the reforms of 1990s failed
to create democracy in Russia, instead they created oligarchy
and shut down the possibility of forming a broad layer of
full-fledged owners in the country, and without such a layer
democracy is not possible.
Russian modernisation programme can be a successful if only
it ensures fair elections, independent judiciary, free media,
separation of business from the government and transform of
the structure of the distribution of property - from the oligarchy
to the massive layers of small and medium-sized owners.
"The role of the European Union in modernisation of
Russia could be much more serious if the EU chose as its strategic
priority a joint European-Russian integration into a single
economic, cultural and partly political space. However, this
requires abandoning of the Realpolitik approach and development
of long-term policies based on the priority of human values,”
said YABLOKO’s leader.
Sergei Mitrokhin also stressed the importance of addressing
the issue of visa-free regime between Russia and the EU. According
to YABLOKO’s leader it is possible to solve it stage by stage
beginning it in the Kaliningrad region - the Russian exclave
in Europe. It is also necessary to pay greater attention to
broadening of cultural and humanitarian contacts, as well
as exchange in the field of education, environment and development
of new technologies.
"Certainly, the EU should react to violations of human
rights and give them a tough assessment," Mitrokhin said,
referring to the trial over Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon
Lebedev. However, "such violations should not be a pretext
for closing the integration process,” he added. “As only those
forces in Russia who seek to isolate it from the West will
benefit from such sanctions," he concluded.
The moderator of this meeting of the ALDE faction was Guy
Verhofstadt, ALDE leader and ex Prime Minister of Belgium.
See also:
Russia-EU
Relations
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