Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-12-01-Speech-3-103"
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"I would like to start by saying that I fully agree with Mr Cohn-Bendit that the EU-Russia summit was more than a discussion on Ukraine. It was an occasion to further deepen our relations in various fields and therefore I am glad that we are holding this debate on the EU and Russia today. I hope that you will forgive me for not staying for the full debate.
On the common space of research and education, including cultural aspects, there was agreement in principle to establish a European training centre institute in Moscow. This will enable Russian citizens to understand the European Union better. Furthermore the EU appreciated Russian support on ITER.
Regarding the fight against terrorism, during a visit by Gijs de Vries, our counter-terrorism coordinator, President Putin said that Mr de Vries was highly valued by his Russian counterpart. His counterpart will visit Brussels shortly. Moscow was very interested in EU policy developments such as document security. Russia also wants to exchange data with Europol, Eurojust, etc. The EU is in principle ready for this, but first Moscow has to ratify the Council of Europe's Convention on Data Protection. President Putin committed himself to this and I hope that this commitment will bear fruit shortly.
The discussions on external relations were primarily focused on what the EU considers to be our common neighbourhood, in particular Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova. It will not come as a surprise to you when I say that the discussions on Ukraine were long, intense and very frank. They took up the whole working lunch. We agreed on a number of important issues. The current situation should be solved in a peaceful manner without any violence. Secondly, Ukrainian law should be respected. Thirdly, we should try to avoid a deepening of the rift between the Ukrainian people. Whoever becomes President should be the President of all Ukrainian people and the territorial integrity of Ukraine should be respected.
I have already referred to the telephone call that Prime Minister Balkenende made to President Putin this afternoon, so I do not think I need dwell too much on this subject.
In addition to Ukraine we discussed a number of other international issues. In view of the limited time and given the fact that the views of the EU and Russia on, for example Iran and the Western Balkans, coincide to a large extent, I will not go into details now.
The relations between the EU and Russia are of strategic importance. Russia needs the EU, just as the EU needs Russia. During the Dutch presidency we have been able to intensify our relations and bring the four common spaces a lot closer. Furthermore, the EU has managed to speak with one voice during the past month, which has not always been the case with such an important dossier as EU-Russia relations.
I believe this can be seen as progress. The EU and Russia have had and still have differences, but that is only natural. Russia has to get used to the fact that in more that one respect we have become closer neighbours, whose interests are not always identical. However, we are able to discuss those issues freely and in a very frank manner, and that is essential for a strategic relationship.
I hope that the next presidency will be able to inform you that we have complete agreement on the four common spaces that form the basis of this relationship.
The EU and Russia have come closer in more than one respect. With the ratification of the PCA (Partnership and Cooperation Agreement) enlargement protocol and the Russian ratification of Kyoto, Russia has underlined the importance it attaches to its strategic partnership with the European Union. This strategic partnership is also important for us. Together we can handle not only difficult issues of mutual importance but we can also address important international issues such as the environment and the fight against terrorism.
The four common spaces form an essential part of our strategic relationship; they show that we want to be more than just close neighbours. We want to be good neighbours. During the last six months we have made substantial progress; we have been able more or less to complete negotiations on two of the four spaces, namely on economics, research, education and culture.
We hope that at the next summit in May 2005 in Moscow we will be able to reach agreement on all four spaces. In the EU, we see those four spaces as interlinked. The EU wants to lift the level of cooperation between the EU and Russia to a higher level, but this has to be across the board. There can be no picking and choosing. Furthermore, we will do this – and I have not set aside fundamental principles and objectives for the sake of a quick compromise. It is important to note that, whilst negotiations on this basis are ongoing, we will try to intensify EU-Russia relations wherever possible whilst respecting our principles.
There are some very important issues, such as the Kyoto protocol, where we have to move forward and we cannot wait for a final agreement on this basis. Both Russia and the EU have agreed that the WTO accession is important for Russia. The EU has offered assistance in the WTO negotiations with other partners, but we have insisted that Russia should take WTO rules seriously. Russia should thus increase the confidence of foreign investors. It also means that Russia should be willing to solve economic disputes. In this respect the EU recalled the unresolved issue of Siberian overflight payments at the summit.
There is still some work to be done in the common space of freedom, security and justice. The most important issue is the question of the EU's desire for readmission agreements, which is linked to the Russian desire for visa facilitation as well as the long-term objective of a visa-free regime. For the EU a readmission agreement is an essential element of this common space, therefore we are not willing to compromise just to obtain a result. We want a good result – and that is in the interests of our people.
We consider respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms to be of paramount importance and therefore an importance element of this space. We raised the issues of Chechnya and the situation in the Northern Caucasus as well as the position of the media with our Russian partners during the summit. Unfortunately we were not able to make substantial progress since opinions continue to differ. But I hope we will be able to maintain a frequent dialogue on human rights issues.
This discussion is a two-way street, therefore we had no objections to Russia raising the issue of Russian-speaking minorities in the Baltic States. In my view, we gave the Russians a clear and satisfying answer to these questions.
The EU asked Russia about its objections to the notion of a common neighbourhood, which we consider to be important for the common space of external security. Unfortunately, here we have different views as we have seen with Ukraine, but we will continue to try to convince Russia that working together to create a stable, democratic and free common neighbourhood is not only in the EU's interest, but also in Russia's: it is a win-win situation. We should look to see where we can find common ground rather than just criticise each other."@en1
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