President,
Dear members of Parliament, dear colleagues,
I would like to make a preliminary remark to my speech. Your country has its own language, Moldovan. My country has too, Luxembourgish. And we are both members of the Francophonie. So I should speak in French, but I will speak in English as I have interpretation from and into English and the interpreter is doing a very good job.
It is an honour to address the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova in this impressive building.
The Moldovans are famed for their hospitality and friendliness, and I am very honoured and pleased to be a guest in your country.
While I only started my official visit yesterday, I have already had very interesting discussions with the Chairman of your Parliament and with members of various political groups, and I would like to thank him for the invitation to visit your country.
It is a great pleasure to be able to address you today on some of Europe's pressing political issues, and the role and contribution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
Members of your delegation to PACE are very active defenders of the ideals of the Council of Europe and its values based around rule of law, democracy and human rights. And let me stress that it is indeed remarkable that two (out of eight) Committee's Chairs of our Assembly are members of your delegation, Ms Gutu, Chair of the Committee on Culture, Science and Education and Mr Ghiletchi, Chair of the Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development. Their work in these Committees is highly respected, and it is important to have such leaders in a time of economic woes, political upheavals and troubling security issues. The other members of your delegation are doing a very good job too and I should like to emphasise that I am very pleased that out of a delegation of five members you have three members who are women.
The Council of Europe, as you will know, was founded in 1949 and today has 47 member states with a population of 820 million. These persons are represented in the Parliamentary Assembly by 318 members and their alternates.
Moldova joined the Council of Europe in July 1995 and its commitment to the organisation can be seen in many ways:
- its high rate of signature and ratifications of Council of Europe Conventions,
- its involvement in campaigns such as the "1 in 5 campaign" to combat child abuse and promote the ratification of the Lanzarote Convention,
- its ongoing commitment to meeting Council of Europe standards and its co-operation with the monitoring bodies of the Council of Europe.
In Europe there are unfortunately too many conflict regions that deserve our attention, including Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and the northern part of Cyprus. Of direct concern to you is of course the situation in the Transnistrian region of the Republic of Moldova. Europe has been further destabilised by the conflict between your neighbour country Ukraine and Russia, and it is clear this conflict has consequences for your own country.
Earlier this year, when I was in Vienna addressing the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Council of Europe member states, I said that the three most important challenges facing the Council of Europe were: Ukraine, Ukraine and Ukraine.
The conflict is a test for the credibility of our Organisation; it is a test of our ability to support a member state facing an unprecedented political crisis, not only internally, but also at its borders. It is a test for us to protect human rights in Ukraine and at its borders, and a test for us to preserve territorial integrity.
During the February 2014 Maidan events in Kyiv, the Rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly's Monitoring Committee were on the square providing daily updates on the situation. A week after Russia annexed the Crimea I visited Ukraine together with political leaders and rapporteurs. During this visit we went to Donetsk in the east, where unfortunately violence escalated dramatically since then.
While there I met with the Governor of the region in the Administrative building currently occupied and sandbagged by "separatist forces". Back in March there were already anti-government demonstrations and a number of demonstrators chanted at me « fashystskaya Ievropa » (fascist Europe). It goes without saying that I am a European but I am certainly not a fascist. While the demonstration was peaceful, it also showed a level of frustration and distrust of "Europe".
Events in Ukraine, as you are well aware, moved quickly with the annexation of Crimea and the build-up of Russian troops at the border and the occupation of government buildings by so called separatists. The Parliamentary Assembly had to react.
During the April part Session, the Assembly sought to stand up for the values of the organisation and took difficult and principled decisions which its founders would have expected of it.
In Resolution 1988 (2014) on Recent developments in Ukraine, the Assembly made it clear that Ukraine had a heavy responsibility, but also a window of opportunity, to tackle corruption and bring about real constitutional change, electoral reform and decentralisation. Ukraine needs strong institutions, because if the state is weak, it is not able to protect the rights of its citizens.
This Resolution was however overshadowed by discussions on Russia's annexation of Crimea and the increasingly worrying events in Eastern Ukraine.
Actions have consequences. In the Assembly the consequences for Russia of their actions were laid out in Resolution 1990 (2014). I would like to be clear on what the Assembly decided and what the Assembly did not decide.
Concerning the Russian Delegation, it suspended voting rights, the possibility of being represented in the Bureau and Presidential Committee of the Assembly (the executive bodies) and the right to participate in election observations.
It did not, however, suspend the credentials of the Russian Delegation, thus allowing for an on-going dialogue whereby the Russian Delegation could continue to participate in the other work of the Assembly.
Actions again have consequences. In the light of these sanctions by the Assembly the Russian State Duma has reacted by suspending "its further constructive participation in the PACE activities". And indeed, regretfully, their Parliamentarians did not attend the June part session of the Assembly.
I hope that we will continue to keep dialogue open because dialogue is the key and that is why I had a phone conversation with the Speaker of the Duma during which we agreed to meet.
Since these resolutions the situation in Ukraine has not improved, on the contrary. The death toll has risen. There have been tragic events and I am not going to enumerate them. Unfortunately, tensions have risen dramatically over the last few days and we are now witnessing an intensification of violence in the combat areas with rising death tolls, including civilians, and the shooting down of a Ukrainian military plane allegedly by a Russian missile. In this context, direct military involvement of Russian forces, which would lead to an open conflict, should be avoided at any cost.
Prior to these developments I tried to keep dialogue open, as I just mentioned.
Ukraine may be Europe's Pandora's box, but as we know, at the bottom of the box there is hope. With the election of a new President in Ukraine, Mr Poroshenko, there is still hope that he will be able to forge a dialogue with Russia and the separatists in the East. On the home front he has a mandate to build on the reform process which I have already mentioned.
The Assembly was honoured to receive President Poroshenko on 26 June on his first official visit abroad after his inauguration. It was highly symbolic that for his first visit, he came to Strasbourg and to the Council of Europe to address the Assembly. His address was that of a man with a vision for his country, ready to tackle its problems.
At the end of June, the Assembly also discussed the humanitarian consequences of this crisis: the situation is of great concern and is becoming more and more worrying every day.
At the Council of Europe we are here to provide support, but there is one essential precondition for progress – violence must stop. And from what we see now, I am afraid that we are not getting any closer to it.
This conflict will certainly challenge our conflict settlement skills. Your Parliamentarians, with their own experience of a so-called frozen conflict, have something to contribute in future discussions on this issue.
The respect for territorial integrity is one of the Council of Europe's fundamental principles. What happened in Crimea should not be repeated, and allowed to happen in Transnistria or elsewhere.
Initiatives to keep dialogue are of the utmost importance.
We cannot close the door. It is easier to close the door than to reopen it.
There are other major challenges for Europe. The financial crisis is one of these. Across Europe this crisis has also engendered a social crisis. It is therefore essential that fundamental social rights, such as those under the European Social Charter, are respected in difficult times, in particular for those most vulnerable.
Members of Parliament,
Moldova has made enormous steps but you are well aware that there are still enormous steps to be taken.
In recent years, Moldova suffered a serious political crisis. Repeated parliamentary elections were held. After a three year political deadlock, a new President of the Republic was elected in March 2012. To avoid such a political deadlock in future, it is also of utmost importance that your Parliament amends the provisions of the Constitution relating to the election of the President.
I want to be frank and outspoken.
This crisis revealed a number of dysfunctions, pointing out the need for certain reforms. I would here underline the need to reform the Prosecutor's Office and to ensure the separation of powers and the de-politicisation of judicial institutions. The fight against corruption is also an important issue your country has to tackle seriously because corruption undermines democracy. These are some of the important recommendations the Parliamentary Assembly addressed to your Parliament last year in the framework of the monitoring procedure.
In the recent report on the "State of Democracy, Human Rights and the Rule of Law in Europe", the Secretary General of the Council of Europe also highlighted that Moldova needs to consider, in particular, ratifying or signing five further Conventions.
Here I would particularly mention the Convention tackling domestic violence (Istanbul), Protocol 12 of the ECHR relating to non-discrimination, the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages and the Additional Protocol to the European Social Charter on collective complaints. The relevance of these Conventions I do not need to explain.
If I may, I will hand the list of Conventions that still need to be signed and/or ratified in priority to you Mr President.
In terms of the other Conventions ratified by the Republic of Moldova, the spirit of co-operation of your authorities is to be welcomed. It is nonetheless important that recommendations from these bodies are fully implemented, whether they concern:
- Local self-government and decentralisation - Congress of Local and Regional authorities
- Combating corruption and organised crime - GRECO
- Allegations of ill-treatment of detainees - European Committee for the Prevention of Torture,
- Anti-discrimination - Commission Against Racism and Intolerance
One of the priorities for my Presidency is to help member states live up to their commitments under the European Convention on Human Rights. A number of cases against the Republic of Moldova have been examined by the Committee of Ministers this year, to its satisfaction. This is the way it should be.
If however I can make one suggestion, it would be for you to consider inviting your Government Agent at the European Court of Human Rights to address your Parliament, once a year, on the implications of recent Strasbourg case law on Moldovan law and practice.
Members of Parliament,
The Republic of Moldova has recently taken an important decision by signing and ratifying an Association Agreement with the European Union. The Republic of Moldova has chosen the path of European integration with the signature of this Association Agreement.
It is your choice and that of the Moldovan people. This choice has to be respected by all actors, national and international.
Because of its history and culture and its geographical situation, the Republic of Moldova should remain a bridge between east and west. Choosing the path of European integration should not change this situation.
Only a State built on strong institutions based on the Rule of Law can guarantee the human rights of individuals.
Members of Parliament,
I know that you are now working on the political participation of women. It is so important that more women are getting involved and I hope that we will see more women in the next composition of your Parliament.
I would like to end my address by saying thank you in my own tongue Luxembourgish.
Villmols merci.
Which in Moldovan is Multumesc frumos!
Thank you.