Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-05-25-Speech-3-073"
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"en.20050525.13.3-073"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, Mr President
in
Office of the Council.
Since the EU was enlarged just over a year ago, our powerful neighbour in the east, Russia, has become more and more important to us. The country has been a strategic partner for a long time, and we share many challenges and tasks that require cooperation and common solutions. Trade, the environment, energy and the fight against terrorism and organised crime are just a few of the areas concerned. We need good relations in order to be able to achieve stability, security and prosperity throughout the European continent.
Our partnership has not, however, been without its problems, and it is pleasing that, at the summit on 10 May, we succeeded in agreeing upon cooperation within the Four Common Spaces. The relevant summary included approximately 400 practical – although not especially practical – points requiring cooperation, but these are still far from being resolved. It is important and gratifying that this much progress has been made, but it also remains to be seen what lies beyond the rhetoric. The President
in
Office of the Council, Mr Juncker, said that the EU and Russia had still not embarked upon their honeymoon but that there was true love between the two. It now remains to be seen what this means for their future marriage plans.
We are dependent upon each other, but relations have been strained and cooperation made more difficult by internal developments in Russia that have seen a decline in human rights and democracy under Putin. Ever more power has been concentrated in the Kremlin and in Putin personally. Political parties have been marginalised, and there have been restrictions upon freedom of expression and the free media. There is still extensive corruption, and there seems to be no end to the atrocities in the bloody conflict in Chechnya. The murder of Maskhadov, Chechnya’s elected president, will not make a political solution any easier. Putin and the EU also have different views of developments in the neighbouring countries. The situation in our common neighbourhood has in many ways been gratifying. In Ukraine and Georgia, people have turned away from authoritarian regimes and instead chosen democracy, openness and renewal. This is an area in which we must together realise that we have everything to gain from democratic neighbouring countries, and Russia and Putin must accept that these countries do not belong to the Russian sphere of interest. The people of those countries want democracy and see the EU, and not Russia, as a model for the future.
The problems in terms of cooperation are not, however, only due to Russia. Relations have been made more difficult by the fact that the EU and the individual Member States send out different signals. The common policy places very strong emphasis upon values such as democracy and human rights but, when individual Heads of Government meet Putin, the common values tend to end up very far down on the agenda. Instead, there is a focus on, for example, energy. This does not give a helpful picture of the EU and creates confusion on the Russian side. In the report we are discussing, the Committee on Foreign Affairs is critical of some aspects of the way in which Russia’s domestic politics have developed and thinks that the EU must be clear. The conflict in Chechnya can only be resolved politically. The EU must offer to act as a mediator and, as time goes on, also participate in the work of construction. Terrible atrocities are taking place against civilians in Chechnya. This concerns us all. There is no internal conflict. No one denies the terrible acts committed in Russia – I am thinking, for example, of the massacre in Beslan – but these do not justify the atrocities in Chechnya and the unwillingness to put the soldiers responsible on trial.
Because of its size and geographical position and because it is our neighbour, Russia is an incredibly important partner. There is no alternative to active cooperation, but we need to focus on a number of practical areas of cooperation in which the EU and Russia both benefit from results. Quality, and not quantity, should be the determining factor behind this work, and the issues relating to democracy must never cease to be integrated. The EU must convince Russia that economic development and trade go hand in hand with modernisation, a functioning legal system and democratic reforms. We support Russia’s ambitions to join the WTO, together with the reforms that this will entail. We look forward both to greater cooperation in the environmental sphere in connection, for example, with maritime safety and with safety in relation to nuclear energy, and we look forward to a continuation of the commitments under the Kyoto Protocol. We hope that, together, we shall find a solution to the conflict in Transnistria and that the Russian troops will be withdrawn from Moldova and Georgia.
Naturally, we must mainly look forwards, but we have a common, and at times dramatic and bloody, history. In order to move forwards, we need to be able to put the past behind us, but, in order to do that, a process of reconciliation is required. The archives in Europe and Russia from the Second World War must be opened up, and Russia must recognise its occupation of the Baltic states and the atrocities committed by the Soviet Union. It is excellent that the border agreement with Estonia has been signed. A similar agreement now remains to be signed with Latvia too.
We have a limited ability to influence developments. That is why it is incredibly important never to retreat from those values on which EU cooperation is based and to make it clear to our large neighbour that we shall not do so. The EU and Russia will only ever be able to achieve a true partnership if it is based on the defence of democracy. The Russian people is not helped by our remaining silent on important issues of principle. A coherent strategy with a common message, instead of one
man shows by individual leaders, is the only way of conducting a credible policy towards Russia."@en1
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