A rally in protection of small business

Press Release, May 14, 2013

On May 26, the Russian Entrepreneur’s Day, YABLOKO will conduct a rally in protection of small business. The part has already applied for a permission for the action to the Moscow Mayor’s Office.

Entrepreneurs from Moscow, Samara and Tver will participate in the action.

Preliminary it is planned that the rally should take place in the centre of Moscow in Novopushkinskiy Garden.

The time of the rally will be announced after getting a permission from the Moscow authorities.

YABLOKO has been conducting a rally in protection of small business on May 26 for several years already.

Bulgarian election 'a dark day for democracy' - European Liberal President

Press Release, the ALDE party, May 13, 2013

Reacting to the results of the snap parliamentary elections in Bulgaria held on Sunday 12 May, ALDE Party President Sir Graham Watson MEP today said: “with the lowest turnout in the history of parliamentary elections in Bulgaria, yesterday was a dark day for democracy and a repudiation of the EPP-aligned government led by Boyko Borisov. The conduct of the election also gives cause for concern.”

“It is worrying that the election was marred by several reports of irregularities, vote-buying and controlled voting. The discovery by police of 350,000 ballot papers printed by a company belonging to a GERB councillor raises important questions. The next government must undertake serious efforts to defeat fraud and regain the voters’ trust in democracy.”

“European Liberal Democrats congratulate ALDE member party Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) on their performance in the election and their efforts during the campaign. Negotiations for a government coalition must take their result into account.”

YABLOKO and European democrats discussed the relations between Russia and the EU and supported Russian NGOs

Press Release, May 8, 2013

The YABLOKO party, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), Swedish People's Party in Finland and the Swedish International Liberal Centre (SILC) held in Helsinki a seminar entitled "The Future of EU-Russia Relations: the Liberal View".

The seminar was attended by 250 people from Russia, Finland and other European countries - politicians, civil society activists, political scientists, experts, journalists and students. Representatives of Russian non-governmental organisations (GOLOS, the Moscow Helsinki Group), and independent press ("Novaya Gazeta") that were subject to increasing pressure from the authoritarian government were also invited to the seminar.

The European Union was represented by Carl Haglund, Minister of Defence of Finland and leader of the Swidish People’s Party, Kristiina Ojuland, MEP, and Nils Torvalds, MEP, Astrid Thors, member of the Finnish Parliament and Vice-President of ALDE and Martin Angeby, Secretary-General of the Swedish International Liberal Centre.

Grigory Yavlinsky, founder and one of YABLOKO’s leaders, delivered a key report "Russia in Ten Years." Valery Borschev, Chairman of YABLOKO’s Human Rights Faction and member of the Moscow Helsinki Group, and Galina Mikhaleva, Secretary of YABLOKO’s Political Committee, participated in panel discussions on human rights in Russia, and trade and economic relations between Russia and the EU.

Grigory Yavlinsky stressed in his speech that only cooperation and integration of Russia and the EU will allow both the sides to take a decent place in the world of the 21st century, and give them the opportunity to compete with the North American and Asian world economic growth centers in the nearest perspective. According to YABLOKO’s leader, the main obstacles for Russia’s integration into Europe are Russia’s domestic problems, such as "primitive authoritarianism", corruption and "deformation of the principle of freedom of conscience"...

LI President Congratulates Icelandic Liberals on Formation of Government

LI News Bulletin, Issue 330, May 10, 2013

LI President, Hans van Baalen MEP, has written to leader of the Progressive Party of Iceland (LI Full Member), Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, to congratulate him on his party's success in the recent parliamentary elections. Iceland's President, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, invited Mr Gunnlaugsson, who has been made Prime Minister-elect, to form a government following parliamentary elections in which the Progressive Party made the biggest gains in electoral support; more than doubling their number of seats from 9-19. The Progressive Party has experience of coalition politics and as the Prime Minister-elect, Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson, entered into Coalition talks, he said: “I feel good about this. There are of course many and big issues to discuss so this will take some time, but it's right to be optimistic, in the beginning at least”. The Liberal's return to government comes as the Socialist Party they replaced were unable to solve Iceland's national concerns, resulting in voters punishing the Socialists for imposing tough austerity measures and failing to tackle high levels of household debt.

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YABLOKO pays tribute to the Second World War soldiers on the Victory Day

Press Release, May 9, 2013

On the 68th anniversary of the Victory over fascism YABLOKO leaders and supporters of the party paid tribute to the heroes of the Second World War by laying wreaths and flowers at the Eternal Flame at the mass grave at Preobrazhenskoye Cemetery in Moscow. Thousands of Muscovites - soldiers and officers who died during the Second World War - are buried here. Preobrazhenskoye Cemetery has become a traditional place for YABLOKO for paying tribute to those fallen in the war. YABLOKO activists have been coming here for several years already.

The ceremony was attended by YABLOKO Chairman Sergei Mitrokhin, members of YABLOKO’s Political Committee Alexei Arbatov, Sergei Ivanenko and Grigory Yavlinsky.

YABLOKO leaders laid a wreath and flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Press Release, May 8, 2013

On the eve of the Victory Day of May 9, activists and leaders of the YABLOKO party paid tribute to the soldiers and victims of the Second World War laying a wreath and flowers at the Eternal Flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier by the Kremlin wall in Moscow.

YABLOKO Chair Sergei Mitrokhin, the members of YABLOKO’s Political Committee Alexei Arbatov, Sergei Ivanenko and Grigory Yavlinsky, Bureau members Anatoly Golov and Valery Goryachev, as well as members and supporters of the party took part in the ceremony marking the 68th anniversary of victory over fascism.

On May 9 YABLOKO will take part in ceremony at Preobrazhenskoye Cemetery where thousands of Muscovites - soldiers and officers who died in the war – are buried.

The ceremony will begin at 12:00. Gathering of the participants is at 11:30. Address: Preobrazhenskiy val, dom 17 A (metro station Preobrazhenskaya Ploschad).

EP report on Hungary confirms a clear risk of a serious breach of EU values

Press Release, the ALDE Group, European Parliament, May 7, 2013

The European Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee discussed today for the first time the report on the situation of fundamental rights: standards and practices in Hungary. The need for this report arose from a series of controversial amendments introduced by the country's ruling party to the media law, the legal order and the national Constitution which go against the values of the European Union...

YABLOKO leader proposed a strategy for the opposition at the rally in Bolotnaya Square, Moscow

Press Release, May 6, 2013

Speaking at a mass rally in Bolotnaya Square, Moscow, YABLOKO leader Sergei Mitrokhin urged democratically minded people to go to polling stations and make the elections honest, rather than ask the authorities for fair and honest elections.

"There is nothing to discuss with these authorities, they resist a dialogue, it is absolutely hopeless to ask something from the authorities, to demand something from them, it is even pointless to scold or criticize them. The only thing that makes sense is to change the government. It's time to change the power and take it into our hands," said Sergei Mitrokhin...

...According to Mitrokhin, a single from the opposition in the gubernatorial elections in the Moscow Region should be Gennady Gudkov [ousted from the Duma and the Just Russia party for his oppositional views].

Mitrokhin also said that a single list of candidates from the opposition should be nominated for the Moscow City Duma elections as well...

St.Petersburg branch of YABLOKO at a democratic manifestation and a rally of May 6

Press Release, May 6, 2013

A traditional May Day Democratic Manifestation was held along Nevsky Prospekt and ended with a rally at Konnyushennaya Square. This year the main slogan of the manifestation was "For Russia Free from Political Reprisals and Religious Obscurantism!"

The democratic manifestation was prepared and conducted by an organizational committee formed on the basis of the Democratic Petersburg coalition. According to different estimates, the number of participants of the manifestation amounted to 1.5 - 2 thousand people.

The rally meeting at at Konnyushennaya Square was opened by Alexander Kobrinsky, deputy of the Legislative Assembly from the YABLOKO party...

The Future of EU-Russia Relations - The Liberal Viewpoint

Press Release, the ALDE party, May 1, 2013

The Future of EU-Russian Relations - The Liberal Viewpoint" seminar was held in Helsinki, Finland on the 29th of April and gathered over 200 people in the audience. The hosts of the seminar were the Swedish People’s Party in Finland (SFP) and the Swedish International Liberal Center (SILC) and it was arranged in cooperation with Russian ALDE member party Yabloko and Svenska Bildningsförbundet.

The seminar was divided into three parts, starting with introductory remarks from Carl Haglund, Minister of Defence and SFP Party Chair, Martin Ängeby, Secretary General of SILC and Astrid Thors MP, ALDE Party Vice President, followed by key note addresses from Yabloko founder, Dr. Grigory Yavlinsky and MEP Kristiina Ojuland. The seminar continued with panel discussions on human rights as well as trade and economic relations in the afternoon.

Carl Haglund commenced by pointing out that a well-functioning relationship between Russia and the EU is beneficial for both parties, which was echoed in later discussions. Also the fact that the EU is Russia’s biggest and Russia EU’s third biggest trading partner was repeated during the day. Peace through trade is a fundament for the EU and something to continue working on. It took 18 years of bargaining before Russia joined the WTO in August 2012 and there still remain obstacles in the trading policy.

EU-Russia cooperation must be based on mutual respect. The importance of the EU putting pressure on Russia to respect freedom of speech and human rights was underlined during the seminar. The ”foreign agent”-law, the Sergei Magnitsky case and other anti-democratic laws are alarming. Russia is not interested in being led by the hand towards democracy – the country must do the work itself when it comes to democracy and human rights. Some of the people working for these values are in jail, but many were at the seminar – including the founder of the Yabloko party.

In his key note speech Dr. Girgory Yavlinsky stated: “The important question is not how long Putin is going to stay in power – the important question is what is going to be instead of him? All other questions are secondary. Then we will be able to speak about elections et cetera.”

MEP Kristiina Ojuland reminded that the Russian Parliamentary elections in 2011 were the real starting point of the lack of trust. They were clearly not free and fair and that has also changed the European Parliament’s view on Russia. Corruption and VISA freedom for Russian citizens were also addressed during the seminar which, thanks to simultaneous translation into Russian and English, attracted a vast number of participants. The seminar has been recorded and can be viewed on www.sfp.fi/russia.

Keynote speech by Grigory Yavlinsky "Russia in Ten Years"

Seminar "The Future of EU-Russian Relations – The Liberal Viewpoint". Helsinki, April 29, 2013