Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-10-21-Speech-2-332"
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"en.20081021.39.2-332"2
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"Thank you for the opportunity to discuss this issue. I believe that all of us in this Chamber want the same thing. We want to cooperate with Russia. We also want a stable, predictable political situation in Europe. Russia certainly also needs us – the European Union – as it wants to sell gas and crude oil, but, most of all, because it has its own internal and external problems. Russia needs our stability, responsibility and strength. How, therefore, do we in this Chamber differ from one another? We differ in the manner in which we wish to proceed in our relations with Russia, in order to achieve the European Union’s goals, not only in economic terms, but also in terms of respecting the principles and the system of values in which we believe.
I would like to give you an example from my own experience. In 2001, relations between Russia and Poland were very good indeed, and the Polish Foreign Minister was received in Moscow with honours. The Russian Prime Minister came to Warsaw and negotiated important issues pertaining to our mutual relations, especially in the field of energy. He even extended his visit by one day, a move that is rare under normal circumstances. This in spite of the fact that, just under two years earlier, in 1999, Poland expelled a dozen or so Russian diplomats, who were involved in a variety of activities, none of which had much to do with diplomacy. A short crisis then followed, until the Russians finally acknowledged that it is worth talking to us and taking joint action with us, and this was because when we are in the right, we have the strength to stand our ground.
The Russians are a proud people with great traditions. They appreciate resoluteness and strength in others, more than complicated explanations which say that ‘black is not quite black’. When were are clearly in the right, a tough, resolute position is the only solution."@en1
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