{"id":29256,"date":"2018-09-18T12:24:20","date_gmt":"2018-09-18T10:24:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/libmod.de\/?p=29256"},"modified":"2020-03-28T02:46:11","modified_gmt":"2020-03-28T01:46:11","slug":"save-the-council-of-europe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libmod.de\/en\/save-the-council-of-europe\/","title":{"rendered":"Save the Council of Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text][\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=\u201d.vc_custom_1508251598805{margin-top: 30px !important;}\u201d][vc_column width=\u201c2\/3\u201d css=\u201d.vc_custom_1508252250311{padding-right: 20px !important;}\u201d][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

With the annex\u00adation of Crimea and the undeclared war in Eastern Ukraine, the Russian leadership gravely violates the principles of the European peace order. In response, the Parlia\u00admentary Assembly of the Council of Europe suspended the voting rights of the Russian delegation. This is a question of self-esteem of an organ\u00adi\u00adsation that is respon\u00adsible for observing human rights, the refraine from the use of force and the equal souver\u00adeignty of European states. Now together with its allies, the Kremlin tries to achieve a lift of sanctions without changing its policy. For the Council of Europe, this would mean giving up its normative basis. An open letter of public figures from all over Europe oposes such a step.<\/h2>\n

<\/p>\n

Open Letter<\/h2>\n

We, the under\u00adsigned, are strongly concerned about the possible demise of the Council of Europe (CoE), which can take place very soon.<\/p>\n

In response to Russia\u2019s illegal annex\u00adation 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 partic\u00adi\u00adpation in the Parlia\u00admentary Assembly.<\/p>\n

In order to triumphantly return to the Parlia\u00admentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in January next year without imple\u00admenting demands contained in a number of PACE resolu\u00adtions, 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 impos\u00adsible to apply sanctions in the future AGAINST ANY MEMBER STATE.<\/p>\n

Such changes, resulting in the uncon\u00addi\u00adtional return of Russia to PACE, will have the following negative impact on the Council of Europe and situation with human rights in Europe:<\/p>\n

1) by allowing Russia to succeed in black\u00admailing, the Council of Europe 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;<\/p>\n

2) without the capacity to apply sanctions, the Parlia\u00admentary Assembly of the Council of Europe will become a toothless organi\u00adzation, stripping itself of the only tool which could motivate an offender of the Council of Europe\u2019s declared values \u2014 democracy, human rights and rule of law \u2014 to correct its policies;<\/p>\n

3) it could trigger a full-scale crisis in the organization.<\/p>\n

We call upon the ruling elites of all Council of Europe Member States not to allow the demise of the organi\u00adzation. History will judge harshly those who give in to blackmail from undemo\u00adc\u00adratic societies where the rule of force is above the rule of law.<\/p>\n

Signed by:
\nToomas Hendrik Ilves, fourth president of Estonia (2006\u20132016)
\nPetras Au\u0161tre\u00advi\u010dius, Member of the European Parliament, Lithuania
\nEitvydas Bajarunas, Ambas\u00adsador-at-Large for Hybrid threats, Lithuanian MFA,
\nAndrius Kubilius, Member of Parliament, Prime Minister of Lithuania (1999\u20132000, 2008\u20132012)
\nBeatriz Becerra, Member of the European Parliament, vice-chair of the European Parliament Subcom\u00admittee on Human Rights, Spain
\nRebecca Harms, Member of the European Parliament, Germany
\nAnna Maria, Corazza Bildt, Member of the European Parliament, Sweden
\nAna Gomes, Member of the European Parliament, Portugal
\nFranti\u0161ek Kop\u0159iva, Deputy, Czech Pirate Party, Repre\u00adsen\u00adtative to PACE, Czech Republic
\nJan Lipavsky, Member of the Parliament, Chamber of Deputies, Czech Republic
\nWerner Schulz, former MP and MEP, Germany
\nHanne Severinsen, Danish Helsinki Committee, Former MP and PACE, Denmark
\nMarieluise Beck, Former Bundestag Member, Germany
\nDanylo Lubkivsky, Former Deputy Foreign Minister, Ukraine
\nMarkus Meckel, Former Foreign Minister of the GDR; Vors. Stiftungsrat Bundess\u00adtiftung Aufar\u00adbeitung, Germany
\nPawe\u0142 Kowal, Former member of the European Parliament, Poland<\/p>\n

Also signed by:
\nSonja Adelheid, member, B\u00fcndnis 90\/\u200bdie Gr\u00fcnen, Germany
\nHannes Adomeit, Senior fellow, Institute for Security Policy, UKIEL, Germany
\nWillem Alder\u00adshoff, former head of unit, European Commission, Analyst inter\u00adna\u00adtional affairs, Belgium
\nJessikka Aro, Journalist, Finland
\nAnders \u00c5slund, Senior Fellow, Atlantic Council, Swedish citizen, resident in the USA
\nDalia Bankauskaite, Head of the Media program at the Vilnius Institute for policy analysis, Lithuania
\nKamil Basaj, Info Ops Project Manager, CEO at @Disinfo_Digest, Poland
\nSteven Blockmans, Senior research fellow, CEPS, Belgium
\nOlaf Boehnke, Advisor, Alliance of Democ\u00adracies, Germany
\nTim Bohse, Political Scientist, Germany
\nSimon Bracey-Lane, Research Fellow, Institute for State\u00adcraft, UK
\nAleksandar Brezar, Editor, National RTV of Bosnia and Herze\u00adgovina (BHRT), Bosnia and Herzegovina
\nPascal Bruckner, philosopher, France
\nSimas \u010celutka, Head of European Security Programme at Vilnius Institute for Policy Analysis, Lithuania
\nIulian Chifu, Professor, researcher; Conflict Prevention and Early Warning Center Bucharest, Romania
\nCarmen Claud\u00edn, Associate senior researcher CIDOB, Spain
\nEvan O\u2019Connell, European Affairs commen\u00adtator, France
\nHalyna Coynash, Kharkiv Human Rights Group, Ukraine
\nEugene Czolij, Ukrainian World Congress, President, Canada
\nHaroldas Daublys, Head of Lithuanian Rifle\u00admen\u2019s Union\u2019s support group for Ukraine, Lithuania
\nDanilo Elia Rai, Public broad\u00adcaster of Italy \/\u200b Journalist, Italy
\nUrve Eslas, Adjunct fellow, CEPA, Estonia
\nYevhen Fedchenko, Stopfake.org co-founder, Ukraine
\nAndr\u00e9 Fesiak, Independent Researcher, France
\nPetr Fojt\u00edk, Analyst, Czech Pirate Party, Czech Republic
\nRalf Fuecks, Center for Liberal Modernity, Director, Germany
\nAnna Garmash, Head of \u201cUkraine Action\u201d (NGO), France
\nAlyona Getmanchuk, director, New Europe Center, Ukraine
\nAnke Giesen, Lecturer, Germany
\nPaul Goble, Former US Government Specialist on the Non-Russian Peoples of the Formber Soviet Space, USA
\nGeorge Grabowicz, Professor, Harvard University, United States
\nGustav Gressel, Senior Policy Fellow; European Council on Foreign Relations, Germany
\nIulian Groza, Executive Director, Institute for European Policies and Reforms, Moldova
\nPavel Havlicek, Analyst at Associ\u00adation for Inter\u00adna\u00adtional Affairs (AMO) in Prague, Czech Republic
\nBerta Herrero, MEP Advisor, European Parliament, Spain
\nMaryna Iaroshevych, Director of the Ukrainian World Congress Mission to Inter\u00adna\u00adtional Organi\u00adza\u00adtions, Belgium
\nJakub Janda, Director, European Values Think-Tank, Czech Republic
\nKornely Kakachia, Georgian Institute of Politics, Georgia
\nJulia Kazdobina, Head, Ukrainian Foundation for Security Studies, Ukraine
\nTamar Kintsurashvili, Director, Media Devel\u00adopment Foundation (MDF), Georgia
\nLino Klevesath, political scientist, Germany
\nJana Kobzova, Advisor, Alliance of Democ\u00adracies, Belgium
\nPetr Kol\u00e1\u0159, Ob\u010dan\u00e9 pro \u2014 Citizens for Czech Republic
\nPeter Koller, The Greens, Germany
\nLyudmyla Kozlovska, President of the Open Dialogue Foundation, Belgium
\nJacek Kucharczyk, President, Institute of Public Affairs, Poland
\nKostiantyn Kvurt, Head of Board at Internews Ukraine, Ukraine
\nPhilippe De Lara, assistant professor of political science at Paris 2 university, France
\nMarius Lauri\u00adnavicius, Senior expert, Vilnius Institute for Policy Analysis, Lithuania
\nJohn Lough, Associate Fellow, Russia & Eurasia Programme, Chatham House, the United Kingdom
\nJeff Lovitt, New Diplomacy, Chair, UK and Czech Republic
\nOleksiy Makukhin, Ukraine Crisis Media Center, Ukraine
\nJens Mattern, Journalist, Poland
\nOleksandra Matviychuk, Head of Center for Civil Liberties, Ukraine
\nDaniel Mazur, Project Manager; Charles University, Czech Republic
\nMartin Mycielski, Brussels Corre\u00adspondent, Gazeta Wyborcza, Belgium
\nJames Nixey, Head, Russia and Eurasia Programme, Chatham House
\nGhia Nodia, Chairman, Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy and Devel\u00adopment (CIPDD), Georgia
\nRobert van der Noordaa, inves\u00adtigative journalist, the Netherlands
\nOxana Pachlovska, Professor, University of Rome, Italy\u2013Ukraine
\nMassi\u00adm\u00adiliano Di Pasquale, Journalist and writer, Italy
\nTetiana Pechonchyk, Human Rights Infor\u00admation Center, the head of board, Ukraine
\nNicolas De Pedro, Senior fellow, Institute for State\u00adcraft, Spain
\nChristian Pieper, Judge, Germany
\nIryna Pieper, Teacher, Germany
\nTetiana Pushnova, Independent media consultant, former Chief Producer of inter\u00adna\u00adtional TV Channel UKRAINE TODAY, Ukraine
\nAntje Rempe language teacher; president of the Partner\u00adschaftsverein Charkiw-N\u00fcrnberg, Germany
\nIgor Reshetnyak, Researcher, EPFL, Switzerland
\nBen Robinson, Senior Fellow, Institute for State\u00adcraft, UK
\nGiedrius Sakalauskas, Res Publica, Lithuania
\nOlaf Saxegaard, Consultant, Norway
\nAlya Shandra, editor, Euromaidan Press, Ukraine
\nAnton Shekhovtsov, Institute for Euro-Atlantic Cooper\u00adation, Ukraine
\nKristian Magnus Skarsv\u00e5g, IT consultant, Norway
\nMaria Slesazeck, DRA e.V., Germany
\nVladimir Socor, Senior Fellow, Jamestown Foundation, USA \/\u200b Germany
\nSusan Stewart, German Institute for Inter\u00adna\u00adtional and Security Affairs (SWP), Germany
\nAlice Stollmeyer, Executive Director, Defending Democracy, Belgium
\nDovile Sukyte, Policy Analyst, Eastern Europe Studies Centre, Lithuania
\nSergiy Sydorenko, Editor, European Pravda, Ukraine
\nJoanna Szostek, Lecturer, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom
\nWolfgang Templin, Publicist, Germany
\nLasha Tughushi, Chairman of the Georgian national platform, EaP Civil Society Forum, Georgia
\nReinhard Wei\u00dfhuhn, Robert-Havemann-Gesellschaft, Germany
\nRobert Werner, CEO, Germany
\nKataryna Wolczuk, Associate Fellow, Chatham House, United Kingdom
\nAnna Yavorska, Advocacy Officer, Open Dialogue Foundation, Belgium
\nVolodymyr Yermolenko, philosopher, journalist, editor at UkraineWorld.org, Ukraine
\nBorys Zakharov, Human\u00adi\u00adtarian Studio Khvylia, Head of the Board, Ukraine
\nBj\u00f8rn Johan Berger, Norway
\nAnzhela Prazd\u00adnichnykh, Belgium
\nMalvin Nyg\u00e5rd, Norway
\nDr. Je\u010dm\u00ednek Jan Martin, Czech Republic
\nAntonina Demenko, Norway
\nEven Jahr, Norway
\nJaroslav Fron\u011bk, Czech Republic
\nOnd\u0159ej Morav\u010d\u00edk, Czech Republic<\/p>\n

\n

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