Statements of Support (2003-2013) / Erler, Gernot MEP

“Today’s guilty verdict against Mikhail Khodorkovsky is a setback for the reform efforts of the Russian President. Khodorkovsky’s name has long been symbolic for the rule of law problems of Russia. The reputational damage caused by the verdict is immense and is likely to have a deterrent effect on potential foreign investors, which the country still very much needs. A country in which the quality of the investment climate is more likely to be defined by having good contacts with decision makers as by the legal framework should, in the long term, have a problem to attract sufficient new capital into the country”

Gernot Erler MEP Germany (Social Democrats), Deputy Head of Parliamentary Group and former State Secretary in the Foreign Office, December 2010