No new partnership and cooperation agreement with Russia until the rule of law is respected

5.59.04pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 25th Oct 2006

Following an initiative by the ALDE Group, a resolution was adopted today during the plenary session in Strasbourg which was particularly severe towards Russian and its President, Vladimir Putin, who participated last week in the Summit in Lahti.

"My group salutes President Borrell and Prime Minister Vanhanen and the other Prime Ministers who raised the issue of Anna Politkovskaya's murder". Leader of the ALDE Group, Graham Watson believes that "The European Union should sign no partnership and cooperation agreement with Russia until freedom, transparency and the rule of law are established, along with the legal certainty for investors that flows from them".

Anneli JÄÄTEENMAKI (Soumen Keskusta, Finland), former Prime Minister of Finland, points out that " President Putin was invited to Lahti because EU-Russia relations were on the agenda, but he was not a guest of honour and could not avoid awkward questions on the state of democracy in his country". She deems that "if the interdependence of Russia and the European Union is to be positive, then there must be a balanced relationship".

"Anna Politkovskaya, died in Russia, her homeland, a supposedly democratic country, but where everyday we hear of a new shift away from the rule of law " declared Marielle DE SARNEZ (UDF, France), vice-president of the ALDE group, who was the instigator of this resolution "The responsibility for this shift is Vladimir Putin, who symbolically celebrated his birthday the same day Anna died".

The common text asks for an "independent and efficient investigation" into this murder and invites the European Union and the Council of Europe to "monitor these investigations closely". When the negotiations begin for the renewal of the partnership and cooperation agreement between Russia and the EU, the European Parliament asks that "the Council give serious thought to the future relations with Moscow.... with a view to placing democracy, human rights and freedom of expression at the core of any future agreement".