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Fri, 10 Jul, 2015 12:13:04 AM Kanerva to get in touch with EC, Moscow FTimes – STT Report, July 10  President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Ilkka Kanerva (L) and Secretary General Spencer Oliver at the 24th Annual Session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Helsinki on Thursday. Photo – Lehtikuva. Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Parliamentary Assembly President Ilkka Kanerva intends to be in touch with the European Commission and the Russian leadership.
Kanerva expects clear guidelines from the EU on how sanctions have to be interpreted.
“The regulations are unclear. When the foreign policy is embroiled in legal wrangle, then the policy is not working. The EU must now specify clearly how the regulations are interpreted so that this kind of situation does not arise again,” Kanerva said.
The problems surrounding the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly escalated in June, when it emerged that part of the Russian delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly meeting in Helsinki were on the EU travel ban list.
It was possible for those on the list to attend OSCE institutional events; however, it was unclear whether the Helsinki Parliamentary Assembly meeting was part of the OSCE institutions or not.
Finland decided not to grant a short-term temporary visa waiver to the blacklisted persons.
Representatives of many countries criticised Finland’s decision afterwards. The issue of the Russian sanctions and the Helsinki OSCE meeting have been known for a long time.
Former foreign affairs minister Erkki Tuomioja said the matter was not dealt with at all during his tenure.
The parliament and the parliamentarians were not in any way in contact with the ministerial level and therefore the matter was not dealt with, revealed Tuomioja.
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| Friday, 19 April, 2024 |
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