EU-Russia visa-free travel, situation with NGOs in Russia not connected - EESC head
MOSCOW. July 27 (Interfax) - Attempts to link the issue of EU-Russia visa-free travel and domestic political events in Russia, in particular the situation with NGOs, are absurd, European Economic and Social Committee President Henri Malosse said.
"In my opinion, these are two different problems. These two issues are absolutely not linked. I, as president of the European Economic and Social Committee, officially speak against making ordinary citizens, who make no political decisions, pay for the consequences," Malosse said.
European Commission Director General for Home Affairs Stephan Manservisi said earlier this year that if NGO inspections in Russia went beyond the tolerated framework, it would impact EU-Russia talks on visa-free travel.
"It is not the private citizens who invented the law on NGOs," Malosse said. "If there were such connections, private citizens would fall victim to such a policy. It is not about the parliamentarians who voted for the bill, but about the ordinary Russians who face a myriad of difficulties when trying go on vacation in Spain, for example. So, I am sure that it is absolutely absurd to make any such connections," he said.
Speaking about the situation with NGOs in Russia, he said: "I can understand a vigilant attitude on behalf of the Russian government toward Russian NGOs that were not set up by Russian citizens and implement projects funded by the United States or EU countries or others. I understand this but I think that such fears are ungrounded," Malosse said.
"It is absolutely legitimate and right for NGOs to show transparency in their funding," he said. "But as to the requirement that NGOs should proclaim themselves 'foreign agents', in my opinion this is useless provocation," he said.
NGOs "should first of all be a union of citizens," he said. "They should avoid a situation in which they would be under any influence, either from foreign states or their own governments. In this sense, in my opinion, both 'foreign agents', agents of the Kremlin and agents of the Palais Elysees and the State Department should be admonished," Malosse said.
The European Economic and Social Committee was set up in 1958 in line with the Treaty of Rome. This is a EU consultative body that represents Europe's civil society. The committee issues recommendations that are mandatory for consideration by EU bodies.
