Posts Tagged ‘EU’
The European Union – Russian Federation human rights
On 17 May 2013, the European Union and the Russian Federation held their seventeenth round of human rights consultations in Brussels, allowing the EU to raise its growing concerns on the developments affecting human rights in the Russian Federation.
Both sides discussed at length the worrying situation of civil society in the Russian Federation, in
particular the wave of restrictive legislation, the recent checks conducted on the basis of the
“foreign agents” law and the ongoing court cases. In that context, the EU confirmed its intention to
continue to follow closely developments affecting NGOs as a whole in the Russian Federation
and expressed among others its concerns at the fining of election monitoring organisation GOLOS
and at the charges brought against ADC Memorial in St Petersburg. Russia expressed openness in
providing detailed clarification as to the implementation of that law and to pursue this dialogue in
more depth on the basis of specific EU observations with the Ministry of Justice in Moscow.
The EU raised a number of specific human rights issues in the Russian Federation, enquired about
the impact of Russia’s efforts to fight against torture and to foster the independence of the
judiciary in light of the recent visit of the UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges
and lawyers. The EU asked Russia to ensure that defence lawyers are able to work freely, in
particular in the Northern Caucasus. The EU also called on Russia to refrain from adopting a federal
legislation on “homosexual propaganda”, which it believed could increase discrimination and
violence against LGBTI individuals. Russia shared its concerns on the situation of non-citizens in
the European Union and on the legislation regulating the use of minority languages in education
systems.
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EU ministers to debate Cyprus money laundering report
An EU-mandated report on money laundering in Cyprus contains nothing shocking, sources say. But you might be forgiven for thinking otherwise, given the level of secrecy.
The report was drafted by Moneyval, a branch of the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe, and an Italian unit of Deloitte Financial Advisory, a US-based accountancy firm.
Moneyval interviewed people at Cypriot government institutions to see how they implement international standards.
EUobserver understands that Deloitte audited a sample of Cypriot banks, but not Cyprus-based branches of foreign banks, to see how private firms do it.
One EU source familiar with the content told EUobserver: “They discovered much less [wrongdoing] than people expected.”
Another EU source said: “It’s not as bad as many people thought it would be.”
But in fact, expectations were quite low.
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Russia’s child-shields
To prevent corrupt Russian officials being barred from Europe, Russia is now using the threat of an adoption ban against European states.
I am no great fan of the international adoption business – it can easily turn into a corrupt, unregulated and even sinister market in children. It is much better to deal with the reasons that the children end up in institutions in the first place and to encourage people to provide homes for them in their own country.
Now Russia is threatening to ban international adoptions. Not as part of a big push to improve child welfare, but to punish foreign countries for their temerity in imposing visa sanctions and asset freezes on the people – mainly officials – involved in the death of the auditor Sergei Magnitsky, and the $230 million (€176m) fraud that he uncovered.
It is worth bearing in mind the nature of the fraud. My email inbox is peppered with complaints from foreigners who have fallen foul of officialdom or local competitors in Russia. My answer is always the same: tough. If you go mud-wrestling, in a seemingly lucrative contest where the referee is known to be corruptible, and where your adversaries are rich and unscrupulous, you will certainly get dirty and may well lose.
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MEPs ponder parliament-level Russia sanctions
It is early days, they have no majority and it has never been done before, but MEPs in the Liberal group are pondering the creation of a European-Parliament-level travel ban list on Russian officials.
Group leader and former Belgian PM Guy Verhofstadt floated the idea in a statement on Thursday (2 May).
“I fully believe that the European Union should follow the US Congress and Senate in adopting a sanctions list. If the European Council fails to act in this regard, then the European Parliament should establish its own list based on the US Congress visa ban list,” he said.
Verhofstadt was referring to a US ban on 18 Russian officials said to be involved in the murder of Russian whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky.
The 37-year-old accountant died in suspicious circumstances in prison in 2009 after exposing corruption by high-level officials in the interior ministry.
The US Congress forced a reluctant State Department to put his alleged killers on a blacklist by threatening to block a US-Russia trade treaty if US diplomats did not act.
Under the EU treaty, the European Parliament has no powers on sanctions.
The EU foreign service can propose them and EU countries decide by unanimity whether or not to go ahead.
A Liberal group contact said one option is the US model – threatening to block other legislation where MEPs do have jurisdiction.
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How to Deal With Russia?
How should Europe deal with Russia, Judy Dempsey, senior associate at Carnegie Europe, asks. The answer is simple, Marcel de Haas, senior research associate at the Netherlands Institute of International Relations Clingendael, contends: Europe needs to take a united stance.
Moscow’s policy toward Europe has been “divide and rule,” Mr de Haas noted. Referring to Gazprom’s deals with European gas distributors, he said Russia was playing EU member states off against each other. Gazprom’s tactic was part of a broader energy war between Russia and the EU.
Russia’s Nord Stream and South Stream gas pipeline projects were an attempt to blackmail Ukraine into joining Moscow’s Eurasian Union, Mr de Haas said. Instead of a joint energy policy toward Russia, EU member states were making their own bilateral deals with Moscow, he lamented.
Europe should join the United States and pass its own Magnitsky Act, Denis MacShane, Britain’s former Minister for Europe, argued. The measure would show Russian officials and the government that corruption and harassment of political opponents carried a price, Mr MacShane said.
Moscow wanted to drive a wedge between Europe and the United States, and between European nation states and the EU, Mr MacShane warned. A European Magnitsky Act would show that this tactic did not work, he said. Moscow has exerted heavy pressure on EU member states on the issue. займы на карту онлайн займы https://zp-pdl.com/get-quick-online-payday-loan-now.php https://zp-pdl.com/apply-for-payday-loan-online.php быстрые займы онлайн
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EU must take a firm stand against Russian blackmail
Reacting to news that the Russian Ambassador to Ireland has written to Irish Members of Parliament threatening to block a treaty on Irish adoptions of Russian children unless Irish parliamentarians drop a Russian-critical human rights resolution, Guy Verhofstadt, ALDE leader reacted in strong terms:
Reacting to news that the Russian Ambassador to Ireland has written to Irish Members of Parliament threatening to block a treaty on Irish adoptions of Russian children unless Irish parliamentarians drop a Russian-critical human rights resolution, Guy Verhofstadt, ALDE leader reacted in strong terms:
“Russian foreign policy once again is showing its ugly face. Blackmailing used by the Russian authorities against Ireland is unacceptable and must be met by a solid and united EU stand. The letter that the Irish Parliament received from the Russian Embassy, threatens that the passing of the Magnitsky legislation in the Dail will lead to a ban on Irish adoption of Russian children. We cannot succumb to pressure.
The European Council should not shy away from its responsibility in agreeing to an EU wide Magnitsky visa ban list. It is now also essential to have the case of Sergey Magnitsky placed on the agenda of the forthcoming EU-Russia Summit. I call on the Council and Commission Presidents and High Representative to clearly state their solidarity with the Irish Presidency in Office.”
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Why the EU needs a Magnitsky act
The European Union should show that it is prepared to act against human-rights abuses in Russia
If there is one thing that truly alarms the Russian elite, it is the prospect of being denied access to their European villas and Europe’s shops. Indeed, within hours of returning to the presidency last May Vladimir Putin passed an executive order pointedly prioritising the fight against “unilateral extraterritorial sanctions” against Russian “legal entities and individuals”.
Although he did not mention Sergei Magnitsky by name, Putin’s move was an unambiguous reference to the threat of targeted sanctions against the Russian officials identified as having played a role in the detention, torture and death of Magnitsky, a lawyer who uncovered the embezzlement of $230 million (€180m) of state money.
Putin’s executive order specifically mentioned the United States. Undeterred, seven months later Congress passed the Justice for Sergei Magnitsky Act, which imposes a travel ban and asset freeze on those who were involved in the events that led to Magnitsky’s death.
Russia’s reaction was furious, expressed most evidently in a hastily adopted law banning the adoption of Russian children by US citizens.
Imagine, then, how much harsher Russia’s reaction would have been if that legislation had been passed by the European Union. For Russians, Europe is closer physically, and more significant economically than the US. Europe’s fashion, private schools and, increasingly, the certainties of its legal systems and free societies are profoundly attractive to wealthy Russians.
But the probability of a tough reaction should not dissuade the EU from doing what it should. Russia has been allowed for too long to lead and manipulate its relationship with the EU.
A European Magnitsky list would be a powerful sign of solidarity with Magnitsky’s family, and a carefully targeted affirmation of European values.
But the EU could go further still. Last October, the European Parliament voted in favour of a recommendation that called for sanctions not just against those who connived in Magnitsky’s death, but also for similar measures against those thought to be responsible for other serious human-rights violations.
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EU audit on Cyprus money laundering – whitewash in the making?
Auditors on an EU-sponsored mission to see if Cypriot banks launder money for Russian criminals began work last Wednesday (20 March).
The project has slipped out of view amid dramatic talks on Cyprus’ new bailout.
But it is likely to come back with a vengeance when the Dutch, Finnish and German parliaments vote in April on whether the EU should lend Cyprus the €10 billion it needs.
The German government pushed for the probe in the first place because the Social-Democrat opposition threatened to veto a Cypriot rescue on money laundering grounds.
“This is a matter of concern … for public opinion in several of our member states,” European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso noted on Monday.
There are two units doing the job.
One is Moneyval, a specialist branch of the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe, whose top man, John Ringguth, a former British prosecutor, was in Nicosia last week to kick things off.
The other is a “private international audit firm” to be hired by Cyprus’ central bank.
The auditors’ terms of reference (what powers they have, which banks they will check) are “confidential,” to use the phrase of one German official.
Moneyval told EUobserver its task is to “focus exclusively on the effectiveness of Customer Due Diligence (CDD) measures in the [Cypriot] banking sector.” In other words, to see if banks check who their customers really are.
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Kristiina Ojuland: EU Should Prioritse Magnitsky
No progress should be made on granting Russian officials visa-free travel to the European Union without legislation to ban individuals who conspired to torture and kill lawyer Sergei Magnitsky from entering the EU, according to Kristiina Ojuland, member of the European Parliament from Estonia.
Ms Ojuland, spokeswoman on Russia for the ALDE (liberal) group in the European Parliament, made her comments as members of the European Commission travelled to Moscow for biennial policy consultations — which this time are expected to focus on relaxing visa restrictions for Russian officials.
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