Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-10-04-Speech-4-163"
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"en.20011004.7.4-163"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, it is a great honour and also a little impertinent to speak before the Chairperson of my delegation, Mrs Schleicher, whom I would have preferred to follow. However I thank Mrs Schleicher, Mr Posselt and my other colleagues who have contributed to raising, and now, debating a subject that is forgotten, that of the Southern Caucasus.
I dare to hope that following the tragedy in New York and Washington, some of us have been made more aware of the importance of this area of the world, of the importance of a region that is in fact the doorway to central Asia, now a hostage of the Russian Federation, as is, to a large extent, not only the Southern Caucasus but also the Northern Caucasus, which is in an even more tragic situation, whether Commissioner Nielson likes it or not. The Northern Caucasus, as we all know, is experiencing the tragedy of Chechnya, a tragedy that is continuing and that sees opposition from the European Union.
The resolution before you contains a number of very specific proposals. Most importantly, the Commission and the Council have been asked to draw up an overall strategy for this region of the world, a strategy that could reverse the current constant tendency towards the deterioration of the situation. The reason that living conditions in Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan are so difficult, particularly Armenia and Georgia, is the constant, daily work of the Russian Federation, which the European Union is not acting against in any specific way.
This is so true that even an apparently harmless issue such as the opening of delegations in Bakou and Armenia has not yet been resolved by the Commission. The problem has been raised on numerous occasions by this House, by Mrs Schleicher as Chairperson of the delegation with those countries. During our meetings in Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia, we have been asked to speak many times. We have done so and we still have not had an answer. This is a case that has been open not only for a few months, but for a few years.
Either the European Union must understand that this region is strategically important, particularly for its energy supply, and start to discuss and propose a policy, or in a few months’ or a few years’ time we will witness the birth of the new Balkans, a little further away from us and therefore perhaps a little less uncomfortable than the Balkans of the 1990s. I think, nevertheless, that it is up to the European Union to give a response.
These countries are part of Europe, they are already members of the Council of Europe, they feel European and in their heart of hearts – they do not dare to ask openly because the Commission and the Council have made it understood that it would not be very appropriate – their ruling classes want to belong to the European Union. We need to respond with action, with investment, we need to re-establish confidence, we need to take our entrepreneurs, investors and companies there. It is quite a small market but, and I repeat this especially for the benefit of the Commission, it is the gateway to central Asia, a strategic region which, as we have seen over the last few weeks, is particularly unstable. I therefore think that the European Union urgently needs to strongly intervene in this region."@en1
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