Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-10-21-Speech-2-305"
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"en.20081021.39.2-305"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, we have to acknowledge that the Council has managed relations with Russia in a more balanced manner than the resolution adopted by the European Parliament on events in Georgia. In that resolution, all the accusations were levelled at Russia alone, and even the attack carried out by Georgia on 7 and 8 August was justified.
If, however, we really care about stabilising peace, then we must say a clear ‘no’ to any accession by Georgia or Ukraine to NATO. We know that this would only serve to destabilise the entire region and greatly increase the likelihood of further wars. Negotiations with Russia should be resumed not only out of economic interest, but also because, until things are discussed, they do not go away, and this is always the best path.
At the same time, we must be completely firm on human rights, freedom of information and political freedoms, which are certainly not the norm in Russia. The best way to be able to protect rights is not to be held hostage to energy; but in order to move away from our dependency on Russia we need not only to diversify the sources of our energy supplies but also to invest in alternative clean energies.
I have one final observation to make. I have heard it said, both by the Commission and the Council, that they have enormous confidence in Russia joining the World Trade Organization. I would like to remind you that you made the same comments when China was joining the WTO, and we have seen the terrible results China’s accession has had on the European economy and European workers. Perhaps, then, we should look elsewhere for solutions: perhaps it is actually the entire mechanism of the World Trade Organization that we ought to call into question."@en1
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