Ivan Melnikov declared over-politization of the G7 and the Council of Europe

The Parliamentary Forum and the Summit of Speakers of the Parliaments of the G20 member states took place just a month before the G20 leaders' meeting in Argentina. A delegation of the State Duma also participated in the events. On November 2, within the framework of the Summit, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma, Ivan Melnikov Melnikov
Ivan Ivanovich , made a statement on the theme “The role of parliament in the G20 structure”.

“We highly appreciate this format, we are very interested in its capacity, we are ready to contribute to the work along with other participants,” Ivan Melnikov said.

He stressed that discussion on key issues has moved from the G7 level to the G20 and added that the State Duma’s delegation welcomed this change because global problems cannot be solved without the participation of China and India, representatives of Latin America, the Middle East, and Asian emerging economies.

“The Russian Federation still welcomes any joint action for peace, equitable and sustainable development on the planet,” Ivan Melnikov said.

He reminded that Russia was suspended of the G7, and the issue of the continuation of the membership of the Russian Federation in the Council of Europe is acute. “This is a consequence of the over- politicization of these international institutions. We see well in recent years that such politicization does not bring the world closer to solving common problems, but only distances it,” First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma said. He noted that “undermining business cooperation first causes regional turbulence and then global one”.

Ivan Melnikov expressed hope that this trend will not affect the G20 “The nature of the G20 establishment on the level of heads of state is a response to stressful challenges,” the member of the State Duma said.

“The Parliamentary G20 has not taken place for five years”, he recalled, and “during this short period of time the world has changed a lot.”

First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma stated that “scandals, threats, blackmail, isolation, embargo, provocations” shake the relations of states every day and “undermine the centuries-old canons of diplomacy, the credibility of international institutions, the fundamentals of international law”.

“As a result, objective negative trends in the global economy receive a huge input from unnecessary, unproductive man-made actions that are detrimental to absolutely everyone,” he said.

Ivan Melnikov believes that under these conditions the G-20 sought to address the crisis, shift the course of events for everyone from destructive to constructive.

The State Duma will support any decisions aimed at dialogue

He stated that among voters of different parties in Russia there is a consensus on issues of international cooperation and interaction and of the foreign policy agenda. It is based on the fact that Russian society stands for peaceful solution of all issues, but rejects the aggressors. “Russian people, like the authorities in Moscow, have a very negative attitude towards any force interventions in the internal affairs of other states,” said Ivan Melnikov.

In addition, Russian society does not support the desire of any state to dominate the political and economic arena, impose its values and dictate rules and also it is opposed to isolationism.

“For Russian people, the issues of our agenda like the future of labor market, countering corruption, gender equality, are no less valid than for other nations,” Ivan Melnikov noted.

He also emphasized that Russian society values “responsibility for the words, consistency and logic”. “These criteria help to evaluate politicians in Russia, the same way our society looks at the leaders of other countries. Today, unfortunately, we see a clear trend, when public diplomacy often acquires the tabloid style,” the parliamentarian added.

Ivan Melnikov assured that the State Duma would support any decisions aimed at dialogue, readiness to take into consideration each other’s interests, and predictability in international relations.

G20 solutions should be implemented in national legislation

Leonid Slutskiy Slutsky
Leonid Eduardovich , Chairman of the Committee on International Affairs, also noted that the Russian delegation is actively participating in discussions about the “re-establishment of G20 parliamentary dimension”.

“We believe that this issue is long overdue. The G20 decisions should be implemented in national legislation, as well as their implementation should be monitored,” he said. All this creates real preconditions for creating a parliamentary dimension of this unit, and this format may become one of the core in the emerging parliamentary order of the 21st century in the coming years, the parliamentarian believes. “Russia intends to take the most active part in it,” Leonid Slutskiy said.

He is confident that the parliamentary dimension of the G20 will be finally formed and, perhaps will turn, into a Parliamentary Assembly or a standing Parliamentary Forum with its own functional committees. “We can talk about the prospects for the occurrence of a new credible inter-parliamentary organization,” the Chairman of the relevant committee believes.