“Although Germany and France have already pledged to increase their contributions to the Council of Europe budget, no amount has yet been decided”, said the French Jacques Maire (ALDE). “We want all Member States to participate in this effort and to join in the same political message: Russia’s suspension from the Council of Europe and its potential departure will not weaken us”.
Jacques Maire launched this message with German Socialist Frank Schwabe on Friday, after the Committee of Ministers announced Russia’s immediate suspension. The aim was to ask national parliaments to act on their governments in order to “preventively” strengthen the Council of Europe. “There’s no need to wait for Russian payments to stop”, said Mr Maire. “A window has opened. In this unprecedented crisis, Europe is tightening its hold on the values defended by the Council of Europe: democracy, the Rule of law and human rights”.
Rapporteur on the poisoning of Alexei Navalny in January, Jacques Maire discussed the attitude of the Russian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly.
“They were careful never to show any sign of weakness, but in bilateral meetings or in Moscow they kept repeating the importance of the Council of Europe and the quality of Russian expertise”.
“On the issue of the Istanbul Convention (women’s rights), they were on the ‘right side’, anxious not to be equated with the policies of Erdoğan or Orbán while constantly reproaching us, wrongly, for doing nothing for Russian-speaking minorities in Europe”.
“When Rik Daems, then president of the assembly, went to Moscow a year ago”, added Jacques Maire, “an agreement had been reached on an agenda including prisoner exchanges with Ukraine, authorisation of a visit of the Commissioner for Human Rights to Crimea. In the end, there was some progress related to the observation of the elections, the reception of the monitoring rapporteurs..., but no political progress”.
The same blockage exists with regard to the execution of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, “the most powerful weapon of the Council of Europe”. “The famous 2017 ruling calling for Alexei Navalny’s release went unheeded and this infuriated the Committee of Ministers. They ended up launching a case against Russia”.
Jacques Maire has not had any contact with Alexei Navalny since January, but he stresses that all opponents of Vladimir Putin are convinced that “Russia is only advancing by seismic shocks, as we saw in 1917 and 1989”. “It is indeed necessary to hit them in their wallet to break the mafia pact of the clique in power. The oligarchs do not want roubles. Placing money abroad is the very purpose of the regime. If we hit it there, it will have to move”.
“I am not saying that I believe in it”, concluded Jacques Maire, “I am saying that they believe in it”. (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)