Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-10-21-Speech-2-296"
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"en.20081021.39.2-296"2
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"Mr President, the actions of the Russian armed forces in Georgia are a particularly relevant test of Russia’s current intentions. They also put the European Union’s political power and fundamental principles of operation to the test. Unfortunately, the leaders of several Member States are behaving as if Russia’s invasion of sovereign democratic Georgia had never taken place.
Ladies and gentlemen, Russia is once again humiliating the European Union by claiming to have withdrawn its forces to their positions prior to the invasion. How, then, are we to account for the fact that Georgian villages located in the region of South Ossetia and its vicinity are constantly being subjected to brutal ethnic cleansing? How are we to account for the fact that the two hundred observers dispatched by the Union are being denied access to the scenes of conflict? Such a situation is light years removed from a return to the
of 7 August, which is a condition for attending talks with Russia. One of the purposes of the Russian invasion of Georgia was to terrorise neighbouring countries in the region, so as to torpedo the
project, which is crucial to the Union’s energy security. It appears that no thought is currently being given to the gas and oil transport corridor running through Georgia. That corridor is vital for us and is the only one not under the Kremlin’s control.
I should also like to recall that there are a great many holders of Russian passports living in neighbouring countries to the Union. I could mention Ukraine, Belarus and the Baltic States by way of example. We must therefore bear in mind that at any moment the Kremlin could claim that those people are in need of its so-called protection. That is exactly what happened in South Ossetia. Once again, I must emphasise that Member States of the Union and their nearest neighbours are under direct threat of Russian aggression.
We are currently confronted with a situation in which Russia, in addition to engaging in energy blackmail, has gone so far as to add the threat of military action against Member States of the Union and their nearest neighbours to its arsenal. The present situation in Georgia is an obvious example. There can be no question of a partnership between the Union and Russia in such circumstances. Attendance at talks during the forthcoming Nice Summit on 14 November would show once again that the European Union’s leaders are totally incapable of coping with Russia."@en1
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