During the AFET vote this week, S&D defended and won, by only one vote and against the opposition of the EPP and ECR, a crucial amendment to the report on the state of EU-Russia relations. This S&D amendment expresses concern with Russia's support for and financing of radical and extremist parties in the EU member states and criticises Russia for hosting a meeting of far-right European parties in St Petersburg as an insult to the memory of millions of Russians who sacrificed their lives to save the world from Nazism.
While one might have legitimate grievances with the current Russian administration of president Vladimir Putin, and the S&D Group certainly does, questioning the undeniable role the Russian people played in defeating Nazism is a different issue altogether. It is nothing but an expression of the Russophobia of the right-wing.
Knut Fleckenstein, the S&D vice president responsible for foreign affairs, said:
"It is deeply disturbing that at a time when chancellor Merkel visits Moscow in an attempt to de-escalate tensions, her political family in the European Parliament brazenly undermines these efforts. Those EPP and ECR members who voted against this S&D amendment should remember that foreign relations, especially in such a delicate moment Europe is going through, is not an arena for scoring cheap domestic political points."
The S&D shadow rapporteur Liisa Jaakonsaari stated:
"During very hard negotiations, we finally managed to keep all channels of dialog open without any preconditions and to bring into this report a long-term perspective for re-engagement and cooperation with Russia, as long as Russia implements fully the Minsk agreements and respects territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine."
"There is no peace in Europe without Russia," - Liisa Jaakonsaari quotes former Chancellor of Germany, Helmut Schmidt.
