EU-US to annoy Russia by backing democracy groups

By Andrew Beatty

Date: 04/05/06

The EU and the US are to express their "strong support" for non-governmental organisations (NGOs) promoting democracy in central and eastern Europe, a move that is likely to be seen by Russia as a deliberate thumb in the eye.

US vice-president Dick Cheney and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana are meeting today (Thursday 4 May) in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, along with a host of presidents from the region to express their support for democratisation.

Russia, which in April adopted a controversial law tightening registration rules on foreign NGOs, is not expected to be officially represented at the event.

The EU and US have been critical of the new law and its impact on freedom of expression and association.

In a draft joint communiqué leaders will today also warn that the region must reform to meet new global challenges.

"Failure to catch up with the European mainstream will undercut these nations' capabilities to adapt themselves to the challenges of the 21st century," the draft reads.

"Political, economic and social reforms in this region should lead to the ultimate goal of creating a Europe whole, free and at peace."

The presidents of Estonia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Romania and Ukraine are expected to sign up to the text.

So too will President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan who was recently criticised for overseeing widespread electoral fraud by international observers, but to whom US President George W. Bush recently gave a warm welcome at the White House.

The 'Common vision for common neighbourhood conference' comes ahead of a G8 meeting in St Petersburg this summer.

Russia's presidency of the G8 is increasingly being seen as an oppor- tunity to address Moscow's perceived practice of undermining democracy.

Speaking in Brussels on Sunday (30 April), US senator and former Democrat vice-presidential candidate John Edwards joined the ranks of those calling for the St Petersburg summit to be used to press Russia on its attitude to democracy.

"If our leaders don't stand up for what they believe, then we need to consider seriously whether we should continue to have a G8 at all," he told a conference on transatlantic relations organised by the German Marshall Fund of the US and the Bertelsmann Foundation.

In a sign of how much importance the Russian government attaches to the event, the Kremlin recently decided to employ public relations firms Ketchum and the Brussels-based GPlus Europe to manage Russia's image ahead of the summit.

Preview of the 2006 Vilnius Conference, co-hosted by Lithuania and Poland, on 4-5 May 2006. The event was entitled 'Common vision for common neighbourhood' and was to bring together Heads of State from around 15 countries from Central and Eastern Europe and the Black Sea Region, as well as the EU and NATO leadership. US Vice-president, Dick Cheney, and the EU's High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, Javier Solana, were also planning to attend the conference where politicians were to express their support for democratisation.

Lithuania: Office of the President: 2006 Vilnius Conference http://www.servinghistory.com/topics/Vilnius_Conference_2006

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