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Alexander Romanovich: We haven’t overcome European rigidity towards Russia but we sowed the seeds of doubt in Europe 31 ÿíâàðÿ 2015 Alexander Romanovich, a member of the Russian delegation at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Foreign Affairs, a deputy of the A JUST RUSSIA party faction shared his impressions from the PACE Winter Session: When summarizing my impressions from the Winter Session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, I can say that in spite of the remained bitterness of defeat, there are still more positive things. We managed to convey our opinion to the parliamentarians, and they took notice of it. However, it is necessary to understand that PACE is just one of the all-European institutions which is subordinate not only to the Council of Europe and Euro Commissions but through national deputies to their own governments. To our regret, a common political line of the united Europe is targeted against Russia and backed up by Washington’s persistent pressure. And still, there was split among the assembly concerning the issue that occurred since the very beginning of the session: what to do about the Russian parliamentarians. Christopher Chop (British), the Conservative leader was the only out of five political groups of PACE who clearly spoke for a tough variant of the resolution. The leaders of the other political groups initially tended to return to Russia its voting right in PACE even though they criticized Russia for Ukraine. As I myself took part in the debates of the "United Left" faction, I remember perfectly well the faction leader, the Netherlands’ deputy Tiny Kox saying "we should not punish the Russian parliamentarians once again. If we again deprive them of their voting right, this will not improve the situation in Ukraine but is sure to deprive PACE of an opportunity to get its position across. In case PACE eases the sanctions, it will show that reason prevails over emotions. During the debates, Mr. Kox was talking about the Ukrainian authorities’ responsibility for the course of peaceful settlement. A group of socialists headed by Andreas Gross, an Assembly reporter on the RF was overwhelmingly supporting continuation of an equitable dialogue with Russia. Mr. Gross said that PACE must not punish Russia but adopt a role of "a doctor". I had a chance to take part in the discussion of that group as well; it was a reasonable and constructive one. However, the last meeting of the profile committee that took place the day before voting changed the outcome: 15 radical anti-Russian amendments to the draft resolution were proposed mainly by the deputies from Ukraine, Georgia, Poland, the Baltic states and Great Britain on whose opinion I entered into a sharp dispute. They also added there the demand to release Savchenko, the pilot who they promptly included in the PACE Ukrainian delegation as its member. Regarding this issue, I declared that we were going to open Pandora’s box. Tomorrow we may have as deputies people serving their sentences due some reasons. Such people like Lugovoy who is put on the wanted list in Great Britain or Victor But who has been enduring his punishment in the USA may also become parliamentarians one day. I called the colleagues deputies not to invent any reasons of this kind so that to separate Russia from the all-European dialogue. In the end, the assembly voted for not returning the right to vote and participate in work of the governing bodies to the RF. After voting, Alexey Pushkov, the delegation head announced that the delegation was leaving PACE till the end of the year. Now let’s analyze quietly, without emotions if it was good or bad to deprive Russia from such an important debating site as PACE. Let’s go down to PACE destination and its initial mission. PACE is one of two principal authorizing bodies of the Council of Europe, a consultative institution representing the parliaments of its member-states. PACE was founded already in 1949. It has been the oldest body for cooperation between parliaments. Please, remember that one can "take off a hat" to each word in this mission. PACE is an instrument for cooperation of all parliaments. Its power and efficiency are contained right in the plurality of opinions which may give birth to the truth Europe needs so much. If Russia is off-side, the European parliamentary community will be deprived of an important channel for communication and making an impact on a whole range of countries, first of all, the former republics of the USSR. At present, Ukraine has become a stumbling block. Europe is extremely easy drawing nearer the country where chaos reigns and a civil war is going on; moreover, its is showering promises on this country. What kind of a Euro-community member is it going to be? No matter what someone says, but it is Russia and no one else who knows Ukraine deeply and well. I’d even say no one feels Ukraine better than Russia. No success can be reached without participation of Russia in joint efforts for having an effect on the sides involved in the Ukrainian conflict. Now about the main thing: proceeding from the logics of the European development as a continent and an economic space, our position regarding relations with all-European structures is based on an objective necessity of pan-European cooperation. It is even not geopolitics as such. It is a geographical and historical entity which we must cherish for the sake of the future of our successors, for the sake of security and prosperity of their common European home. We should take good care of opportunities for a European dialogue and think about the interests of the continent and each of its states. We must solve the problems in (so to say) ‘a family circle’ of Europe and avoid thoughtless steps, for example such like an extremely fast expansion of the EU and the Euro zone by means of the countries that are not objectively ready for such a qualitative cooperation or throw around such dialogue partners as Russia.
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