Posts Tagged ‘verhofstadt’
EU considers visa-ban-lite on Russian officials
The European Commission is considering a ban on visa-free travel for Russian officials linked to the alleged murder of Sergei Magnitsky.
Under the terms of a visa facilitation deal currently being discussed by Brussels and Moscow, Russian officials, who carry so called “service” passports, will no longer have to apply for visas to enter the EU’s borderless Schengen zone.
The perk is due to cover dozens of people accused of involvement in a 2008 plot to embezzle millions of euros from the Russian treasury and to kill the man who found them out – Magnitsky, a 37-year-old accountant and father of two.
US authorities found the evidence against them compelling enough to ban them from visiting the states altogether.
In Brussels, MEPs have called for a similar EU travel ban.
But Russia says they are innocent, while the European External Action Service is happy to let Moscow treat the case as an internal matter.
For their part, a group of 48 euro deputies rebelled against the situation on Tuesday (4 June).
The parliamentarians – which include senior figures from major political groups, such as German centre-right MEP Elmar Brok and Belgian Liberal Guy Verhofstadt – said in a letter to EU countries’ foreign ministers that parliament will veto the visa facilitation deal unless diplomats act.
“Under current circumstances we will be unable to support any visa facilitation agreements with Russia and will advocate the parliament to refuse its consent, unless the [EU] Council adopts an EU ‘Magnitsky Law’,” they said, by reference to the US legal ban.
Read More →
Facebook
Twitter
Google Buzz
LinkedIn
del.icio.us
Google Bookmarks
Yahoo! Buzz
Tumblr
StumbleUpon
FriendFeed
NewsVine
Digg
ALDE Organizing high-level seminar on Russia
EURO MEDIA LTD: ALDE Organizing high-level seminar on Russia . Processed and transmitted by Thomson Reuters ONE. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. On Wednesday, 05 June, the ALDE Group in the EP is organizing a high-level seminar entitled “Russian Political Prisoners”, which seeks to increase attention to the political prisoners in Russia and find solutions on how to help those people.
“The EU can’t overlook its own values and principles while building relations with Russia. There are major problems and these need to be urgently attended to. Russia needs to start fulfilling its international obligations in the Council of Europe and the OSCE” – said MEP Ojuland ahead of the event.
“Instead of long awaited liberation of the political prisoner number one – Mikhail Khodorkovsky, we observe the persecutions of activists and citizens for practicing their constitutional rights. At the moment the “Bolotnaya” and “Pussy Riot” cases have our increased attention, but unfortunately there are many others in Russia who face the same repression” – continued Ojuland.
“Impunity of the gross human rights violators stays as a central problem in cases of living and fallen victims of Putin’s regime as it has happened in Magnitsky’s case”. Among the distinguished participants is the president of the ALDE Group in the EP, former PM of Belgium Guy Verhofstadt; the political leader of the People’s Democratic Union (PDU), former PM of Russia Mikhail Kasyanov; nominee to Nobel Peace Prize, chair of Moscow Helsinki Group Lyudmila Alekseeva; the president of the Institute of Modern Russia Pavel Khodorkovsky; the leader of Sergey Magnitsky Global campaign Bill Browder.
Media Contact Details Mr. Karl Koort Tel: +32 2 28 47583 , email at karl.koort@ep.europa.eu Copyright Thomson Reuters This press release is distributed by Thomson Reuters. The issuer is responisble for the content. [HUG#1706896] unshaven girl займ на карту срочно без отказа https://zp-pdl.com/get-quick-online-payday-loan-now.php https://zp-pdl.com/emergency-payday-loans.php займ онлайн
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Google Buzz
- LinkedIn
- del.icio.us
- Google Bookmarks
- Yahoo! Buzz
- Tumblr
- StumbleUpon
- FriendFeed
- NewsVine
- Digg
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.
Read More →
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Google Buzz
- LinkedIn
- del.icio.us
- Google Bookmarks
- Yahoo! Buzz
- Tumblr
- StumbleUpon
- FriendFeed
- NewsVine
- Digg
Irish parliament to drop Magnitsky List plan after warning
The Irish parliament is set to limit its reaction to the Magnitsky affair to a statement of concern, after Russia warned against US-style sanctions.
A motion by its joint foreign affairs committee has been redrafted to say Dublin will seek reassurances from Moscow on its respect for human rights.
Members had advocated blacklisting Russian officials linked to the death of whistle-blower Sergei Magnitsky.
Moscow then linked any Irish sanctions to adoptions of Russian children.
Its ambassador to Dublin, Maxim Peshkov, wrote a letter to the foreign affairs committee of the Oireachtas (the Irish houses of parliament) on 11 March saying Russia might stop adoptions by Irish parents if parliament endorsed the Magnitsky Act.
Russia banned Americans from adopting Russian children soon after the US Congress passed the legislation in December.
MPs in several EU countries are considering following the American example.
Read More →
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Google Buzz
- LinkedIn
- del.icio.us
- Google Bookmarks
- Yahoo! Buzz
- Tumblr
- StumbleUpon
- FriendFeed
- NewsVine
- Digg
Russia gives Ireland adoption warning over Magnitsky law
Russia has warned Ireland it could break off talks on cross-border adoptions if lawmakers press for sanctions against Russian officials implicated in the death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, according to a letter obtained by AFP on Friday.
The threat follows Moscow’s decision to ban US adoptions of Russian orphans in retaliation for a recent US law freezing the assets and denying entry to America of those tied to Magnitsky’s death in custody in 2009.
The warning was included in a letter from Russian ambassador Maxim Peshkov to Pat Breen, the chairman of the Irish parliament’s committee on foreign affairs, which last month began debating plans for an Irish version of the US Magnitsky law.
Dated March 11, the letter cites the US ban on adoptions and says the committee’s proposals “can have negative influence on the negotiations on the adoption agreement between Russia and Ireland being proceeded”.
Bill Browder, the US-born investor who was Magnitsky’s employer when he died and who is campaigning for an EU version of the US law, condemned the ambassador’s remarks.
Read More →
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Google Buzz
- LinkedIn
- del.icio.us
- Google Bookmarks
- Yahoo! Buzz
- Tumblr
- StumbleUpon
- FriendFeed
- NewsVine
- Digg
Putin’s effort to block US sanctions serves corrupt officials – Hermitage Capital
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy goal of stopping U.S. sanctions against Russian individuals and companies shows that his government is “working in the interests of corrupt officials”, UK-based investment fund Hermitage Capital said on Wednesday.
Hermitage Capital has campaigned in the United States and Europe for sanctions to be imposed on more than 60 Russian officials who the company says were complicit in the death of its tax lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, or a cover-up of how it occurred.
Magnitsky died in a Russian prison almost a year after he was arrested on tax evasion charges. He had previously claimed that Moscow tax and police officials had embezzled $230 million in tax levied on Hermitage Capital profits.
“Putin’s executive order (to prevent sanctions) shows clearly that the entire Russian government is now working in the interests of corrupt officials who have committed grave crimes,” an unnamed representative of Hermitage Capital said in a statement.
Read More →
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Google Buzz
- LinkedIn
- del.icio.us
- Google Bookmarks
- Yahoo! Buzz
- Tumblr
- StumbleUpon
- FriendFeed
- NewsVine
- Digg
