With the annexation of the Crimea and the unexplained war in eastern Ukraine, the Russian leadership has trampled on the principles of the European peace order. As a result, Russia was deprived of voting rights in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). This is a matter of self-respect for this body, which should ensure respect for human rights, the mutual renunciation of violence and the equal sovereignty of all European states. Now, the Kremlin, in association with its political friends, is trying to get rid of this sanction without in the least changing its policy. This would mean that the Council of Europe would give up its normative foundations.
The following open letter was released on October 2.
We, the undersigned, are strongly concerned about the possible demise of the Council of Europe, which can take place very soon.
In response to Russia’s illegal annexation of the Crimea and military aggression in Eastern Ukraine the Council of Europe suspended the voting rights of the Russian delegation. In its turn, Russia has turned to blackmail, having suspended membership fees to the Council of Europe and boycotting participation in the Parliamentary Assembly.
In order to triumphantly return to the PACE in January next year without implementing demands contained in a number of PACE resolutions, Russia and its supporters decided to act by the principle: if you can not change the policy of the Council of Europe, change its rules.
If changes to the current sanctions rules are made, it will be virtually impossible to apply sanctions in the future against any member state.
Such changes, resulting in the unconditional return of Russia to PACE, will have the following negative impact on the Council of Europe and situation with human rights in Europe:
• By allowing Russia to succeed in blackmailing, the CoE will compromise and discredit itself. A weak Council of Europe will lose its authority and influence in those parts of Europe where it is needed the most.
• Without the capacity to apply sanctions, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe will become a toothless organization, stripping itself of the only tool which could motivate an offender of the CoE’s declared values – democracy, human rights and rule of law – to correct its policies.
• It could trigger a full-scale crisis in the organization.
We call upon the ruling elites of all CoE Member States not to allow the demise of the organization. History will judge harshly those who give in to blackmail from undemocratic societies where the rule of force is above the rule of law.
SIGNED BY:
Toomas Hendrik Ilves, fourth president of Estonia (2006-2016)
Petras Auštrevičius, member of the European Parliament, Lithuania
Eitvydas Bajarunas, ambassador-at-large for hybrid threats, Lithuanian MFA
Andrius Kubilius, member of Parliament, prime minister of Lithuania (1999-2000, 2008-2012)
Beatriz Becerra, member of the European Parliament, vice-chair of the European Parliament Subcommittee on Human Rights, Spain
Rebecca Harms, member of the European Parliament, Germany
Anna Maria, Corazza Bildt, member of the European Parliament, Sweden
Ana Gomes, member of the European Parliament, Portugal
František Kopřiva, Deputy, Czech Pirate Party, representative to PACE, Czech Republic
Jan Lipavsky, member of the Parliament, Chamber of Deputies, Czech Republic
Werner Schulz, former MP and MEP, Germany
Hanne Severinsen, Danish Helsinki Committee, former MP and PACE, Denmark
Marieluise Beck, former Bundestag Member, Germany
Danylo Lubkivsky, former deputy foreign minister, Ukraine
Markus Meckel, former foreign minister of the GDR; Vors. Stiftungsrat Bundesstiftung Aufarbeitung, Germany
Paweł Kowal, former member of the European Parliament, Poland
ALSO SIGNED BY 99 OTHERS: scholars, analysts, researchers, political scientists, journalists, philosophers, rights activists, civil society leaders, businesspeople, jurists, educators and others.