Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-01-13-Speech-4-020"

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"en.20050113.3.4-020"2
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"Mr President, yesterday the President of the Commission said that none of us want to have to speak of Europe as being timid and apprehensive. I would ask this House to regard Mr Barroso’s statements yesterday as also relating to Ukraine, as this is another instance in which we should not be timid and apprehensive. We do not all fully appreciate what happened in Ukraine. I am aware that Ukraine is a long way away, and that it is a country with which we are unfamiliar. We know a great deal about Cuba or Iraq, and almost nothing about Ukraine. Yet Ukraine is a powerful country in Eastern Europe, and recent events in this country can easily be compared to another fall of the Berlin Wall, albeit the Berlin Wall in the East. Up until the Orange Revolution, democratic principles were unheard of to the east of the European Union, with the exception of the tiny country of Georgia. They remain unheard of today in Russia and Belarus, as well as in the other former Soviet republics. Apart from the tiny country of Georgia, which dared to make a stand for democracy a year ago, the only other place where such principles are currently adhered to is a powerful country of 50 million inhabitants. This country covers an area greater than that of France, and its people vigorously and resolutely called for democratic principles to be applied in practice and not just on paper. This is a major revolution, and our actions should be equal to these events. Up until now, the European Union’s actions have indeed been equal to events in Ukraine. I will be honest and admit that I was amazed to see the European Union react so rapidly, and to see that it was mediators from the European Union, and not from the United States, who played a leading role in the resolution of conflict in Ukraine. I was proud of that, but I certainly did not feel proud as I listened to Mr Potočnik’s statements today. It would appear that the Commissioner, the European Commission and the European Council are regretting their involvement after 21 November, and now wish to withdraw. We cannot give our consent to this. We became involved, we acted as mediators, and we ensured matters were resolved peacefully. Our duty is to continue providing assistance to the Orange Revolution and to democracy in Ukraine, and to open the European Union’s doors to a country that lies entirely within Europe’s geographical boundaries."@en1
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