MPs call for lifting travel sanctions against parliamentarians.
The Council of Ministers of the EU will soon decide about the possible prolongation of the EU's sanctions against Russia. Notwithstanding this decision and Russia's corresponding decision about the prolongation or lifting of its own counter-sanctions, parliamentarians both in the EU and in Russia believe that travel bans against them should be lifted immediately in order to re-establish a much-needed political dialogue at parliamentary level.
Aleksey Pushkov, Chairman of the Committee on International Affairs in the Russian State Duma, and Knut Fleckenstein, Vice-President of the Group of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, therefore jointly call on the EU and the Russian Federation to lift the travel sanctions against Members of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation respectively Members of the European Parliament and Members of national parliaments of EU member states.
"Sanctions against parliamentarians contradict the essence of European parliamentarism and the values of democracy. Parliamentarians represent people. To sanction them means to deny their basic right and function. In times of political crisis we need more dialogue, not less dialogue. Facing the necessity to fight terrorism we need concerted actions, not mutual rejection. Contacts between parliamentarians should serve both of these purposes. Obstacles to such contacts feed only animosity and discord", says Aleksey Pushkov.
"Due to the crisis in EU-Russia relations political and diplomatic relations but also people-to-people contacts have decreased. Mutual misunderstandings have increased, mutual mistrust is mounting. In these difficult times, instead of decreed silence we need political dialogue more than ever. We want to solve the existing conflicts in our common neighbourhood and move forward together, therefore we need to talk with each other and not only about each other", appeals Knut Fleckenstein, Vice-President of the Group of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament.
Mutual visa ban lists between the EU and the Russian Federation including the names of Members of Parliament have been in place for a while. This has led to a de facto halt of interparliamentary dialogue at the official level, namely the level of the EU-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee which previously contributed to developing political cooperation and establishing a dialogue between the two parliaments.
