If Putin does not like the Council of Europe’ democratic principles then, he should have Russia leave it !

For months now, the European Court of Human Rights, which faces a 40% annual increase of decisions in 2006, with a growth of more than 10% of new cases and of pending cases, is waiting for Russia to sign the protocol N°14 to the European Convention of Human Rights in order to improve its functioning and productivity.

But the Russia Federation Duma, following Putin’s comment on the ‘politicisation of judgements’ by the European Court of Justice refuses to ratify the protocol and therefore blocks the whole improvement, at the risk of seeing both the European Court and the Council of Europe getting stuck into a major crises, as underlined by Dick Marty, the former Court attorney.

Russia is indeed regularly condemned for the most serious violations of human rights among all those submitted to the European Court. The war in Chechnya only is of course generating number of cases about torture, killings, and other human rights violations.

It is out of question that so important achievements of the Europeans, such as the Convention and the Court, could be put in danger because a regime with strong non-democratic credentials, tries to prevent them to just do what they are made for : condemning violations of human rights on the one hand, peacefully promoting those same human rights and democracy on the other hand.
Let’s not forget indeed, that since the US, under Bush’s command, decided to forget the rule of law in favour of the rule of force, these European institutions are the main beacon of human rights left in the world.

The EU executive bodies (Commission and Council), whose member-states represent now more than 2/3rd of the Council of Europe’s population, are once again desperately silent on this issue : whether it is the US torturing or kidnapping people, whether it is Russia torturing and killing people, our “leaders” stay mute. Could it be that this generation of leaders only know one meaning for the word value? Such as “value for money”! Oil barils or stock options values?

In any case, their silence is not only a shame (they obviously are not very sensitive to such a feeling), it is a very dangerous weakness for the future of democracy on this continent too. If those who do believe, like we do in Newropeans, that the main challenge of the next two decades is to prove that democratisation and European construction are two compatible processes, are not able to stand firm against those attempts to weaken first, in order to suppress then, the very basis of democratic societies, then, our collective European future looks very bleak.

So, about Russia and the Council of Europe, let’s be clear : if Russia is upset to be condemned by the European Court because Russian authorities regularly violates basic human rights, then it only has two choices : either to leave the Council of Europe, either to stop violating human rights. Any attempt to try block or weaken the Court itself should backfire and the EU leaders must be crystal-clear on that.

One should not forget that nobody obliges Moscow to be a member of the Council of Europe. If it wants to be one, there are many very good Russian reasons, such as:
. anchoring itself clearly to Europe (rather than ‘floating into an identity no-man’s land between Asia and Europe)
. getting easier access to technologies, intellectual resources and markets it badly needs for its own development and security (because of the label ‘European’)
. culturally strengthening its own core Russian identity against attempts raising from Asia or the Muslim world to question Russian’s historical control of its vast territory.

Let’s be clear. I systematically say, in Moscow and elsewhere on the question of EU-Russia relationship, “Russia is going to become what Russians want it to become”. It will not be what others want it to be. But in that case, Russians have to definitely take full responsibility for their own choices : they wanted to get into the Council of Europe. They now belong to it. So they have to play by the rules … or quit.

To get to that decision is very simple for the Russians (and for Putin) :
they just have to balance the risks of adopting fully the European values, with the risk of staying alone, with an indefinite identity, surrounded by an increasingly strong Asian and Muslim attraction for their energy resources and their wide empty spaces. Russia’s leaders know very well that on the one hand energy can be bought elsewhere than in their country (and that they need to sell it to reliable clients), but that on the other hand, geographical constraints never disappear, making a stand-alone Russia a very attractive prey to all its Eastern and Southern neighbours.

For EU citizens, the answer is clear and should be conveyed in such a way : we have welcome the Russians within the Council of Europe; we would regret if they feel that they have to leave; but core values are not something you cannot compromise with, without compromising your own future, your own identity!

Franck Biancheri
Paris (France)