Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-06-18-Speech-3-314"
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"en.20080618.25.3-314"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, Mr President-in-Office, given that a number of our fellow Members who are opposed to the Treaty of Lisbon have called for a uniform policy towards Russia, let me refresh your memories: bottles of champagne were opened in Moscow after the result of the Irish vote as it was regarded as further proof of Europe's weakness, allowing Russia to revert to 'business as usual' with individual countries.
I am pleased that the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement can now be negotiated, in which we address critical issues such as energy security. It is the Lisbon Treaty which will give us the powers to deal with this issue, along with human rights.
I am sure that just like Chancellor Merkel, the Slovenian Presidency will represent Europe's interests and that Chancellor Merkel herself, in Sochi, will champion human rights and political interests. I am sure this will be successful, and we must remind Mr Medvedev of what he himself has said, namely that states must be measured according to the development of democracy and the rule of law. We should take his comments seriously.
However, we should also make it clear that we have shared interests with Russia, not only in terms of energy issues, where we need to achieve security of supply. Russia is, after all, a member of the Security Council. How can we halt the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction unless we get Russia on side, or deal with issues such as Iran, the Middle East and various other areas? We must make that clear. At the same time, however, Russia should not secure too much power via Gazprom. The Russians must be subject to the same rules on competition as everyone else.
Let me make one final comment: if we are seeking to assert our common interests with Russia via a strategic partnership, it must be clear that there is no longer any room for a politics of the 'near abroad' and spheres of influence. In a Europe of independent states, every country must have the right, in accordance with the Helsinki agreement, to join an alliance or not, as it sees fit. No other country has a right of veto over the independent decisions taken by another European country. That needs to be made very clear as well."@en1
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