EC suggests a modernization plan to Russia
Published: 11 February, 2010, 17:15
Edited: 01 June, 2010, 08:48
TAGS: Natural resources, Medvedev, EU, Politics, Europe, Law, Russia and the global economy, Prime Time Russia, Economy
The European Commission has sent Moscow a document called “Partnership for Modernization”, in which it offered its help in modernizing Russia’s economy and making it more innovative.
Russian Ambassador in the EU Evgeny Chizhov has confirmed the document has been received and was sent to several ministries for consideration marked “for internal use only”.
The exact content of the document is still unknown. However, according to Russian daily Kommersant, the main idea of the document is that modernization is impossible without democratization of the country.
The European Commission therefore suggests that Russia should first reform its legal system, ensuring the rule of law, curb corruption, improve the investment climate, get NGOs engaged in the modernization process and then, with help from the EU, Russia should be brought closer to European technological and economic standards.
Russia’s ambassador to the EU stressed however, that Moscow welcomes the program’s economic and technological initiatives, but rejects what it calls the EU’s lecturing on democratic values: "The program should rather be focused on practical issues and contain no discussions of the benefits of European values." The ambassador also added that the relationship between the EU and Russia should not be one of a “patron” and a “favored one”.
According to some sources, the program is the EU’s response to President Dmitry Medvedev’s article “Go Russia!”, published in September last year. In it, he urged fundamental changes in cutting the economy’s dependence on natural resources and pointed at Russia’s need for reforms.
Later in November, during his annual address to the Federal Assembly, Dmitry Medvedev restated some of the key points mentioned in the article. Some experts say, the address sounded similar to Mikhail Gorbachev’s Perestroika plans: “In the 21st Century our country needs an overall modernization. And this will be the first modernization experiment in our country based on democratic values.”
In addition, earlier this month, Russian think-tank “INSOR” – of which Dmitry Medvedev is also the head of the board of trustees – presented the government with a detailed plan of suggested reforms in Russia.
It is expected that the document will further be discussed in May this year at the Russia-EU summit in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don.
Olga Masalkova, RT
11.02.2010, 15:18
5 comments
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We see spin everywhere, because it is everywhere, you come to this site just spouting it. But the biggest problem is that you believe it. That is why when the facts come on the table, your spin always falls apart. The nine factors are only suitable for spin, you deliberately ignore anything outside your western script, because you have spin blinkers on. Lets go one by one: Climate - What is the climate of Russia - is there a single one? Is the fertile semi step climate in the Rostov region to be lumped with Siberia? Is sun also so good, is skin cancer a very positive benefit to quality of life? A measure of how many climatical regions, would be a huge positive aspect to quality of life. You could arrange your life in one country to have the weather you want! Such freedom, we must be top of the world on this one! One step at a time sweet jesus, from the orthodox country with huge following, but we will come to that!
Count Cash, The problem is that you see spin and western propaganda everywhere. These 9 factors are sufficient. "Were we top for climate...., we cover so much of the world, we must be top surely? " Like Canada. Unfortunately we can't change the weather and live in Quebec or Moscow like in sunny Australia. "Political freedom, were we top here? " Of course you were not. There is no such a thing as political freedom in Russia – Kasparov and The other Russia, ring a bell? We are very politicaly stable, more so than many, were we top ranked? There is political stability + security = North Caucasus insurgency, racist violence in country and the state's apparent indifference + Quasi democracy is not an advantage in the rankings. "Is church attendance, really a measure of quality of life?" Yes, people who report that God is very important in their lives are on average more satisfied with their lives, after accounting for their income, age and other individual characteristics.












Any advice is good advice if it is useful. All that has to be done is divide the advice from the opinions , not so easy. I think these days Russia is in good hands, lets hope it's Forward Russia in these hands. Regarding what some people see as an exaggeration of Russian 'holiness', this is the direct result of human multi information awareness, humans see in Russian leadership the same things they see in Ron Paul, namely something 'real' and 'genuine', these real and genuine entities, floating in a sea of .... Well a sea of propaganda and spin. if we look at both entities: 1. Russian Leadership and 2. Ron Paul group both are not perfect , but humans will quickly align with a less than perfect entity that they believe is real and above all genuine rather than something that appears perfect, but is in ‘fact’ a painting...... and information plays the largest part in the ‘in fact’ section, where in an information environment 'actions' and 'actuality' are the deciding factor this is simply because more people are ‘aware’ of the ‘actuality’ negative or positive. It is harder in this environment to manufacture ‘fact’, and the leaders that do not are the ones that will be the most successful. See if this theory is not right... look at any leader anywhere in the world and judge them on their actions, which have the longest consistent high rating among the world’s populations. Some may say well this is elementary! it's obvious!, well I’d like to say to you that it wasn’t always this way, and that you must be young. Some people will know better than me of days when ‘fact’ manufacturing was the actual ‘actuality’ .