Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-04-01-Speech-3-021"
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"en.20090401.12.3-021"2
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".
Mr President, honourable Members, I would like to start by thanking Mr Onyszkiewicz most warmly for this valuable report.
In parallel to our negotiations, we will continue our efforts in existing forums, in the Geneva talks for Georgia, in the 5+2 format for Transnistria and in the Minsk process for Nagorno-Karabakh. Justice and internal affairs are, as I said, of relevance to both parties in the negotiations, and they are areas where I see significant potential for mutually beneficial cooperation, particularly in the fight against organised crime and also in improving conditions for
travellers. However, the possibility of abolishing the visa requirement, as Russia has called for, will only be a realistic prospect in conjunction with further improvements in other areas. For example, it would make it easier for us to cooperate effectively in general terms if Russia implemented higher data protection standards; research, education and culture also provide numerous opportunities for cooperation in the interests of our citizens, and should be taken into consideration in the new agreement.
The report we are debating today obviously includes many other proposals on which I have no time to comment right now, but they will of course come up in the debate. I would like to emphasise once again that I especially welcome the line that Mr Onyszkiewicz has taken in the report before us and in the proposed draft resolution. If further information is required following today’s debate, I will of course be delighted to give the Committee on Foreign Affairs, for example, a full briefing at any time, as I did last year.
To conclude, I would like to stress that it is an important concern to me that the negotiations should progress successfully, and they have my full support. A good treaty will, I hope, place EU-Russia relations on a solid and predictable footing for the foreseeable future, and thus make an important contribution to the stability and security of our continent.
We have consistently emphasised that we value Parliament’s opinion, and I am of course happy to provide you with further information on the course of the negotiations.
Mr President, Russia is and will remain an important partner for us. Our shared interests are complex and overlapping, from economic contacts to, for example, our shared work as partners in the Middle East Quartet or, like yesterday, in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Of course, as we are all aware, we also have major differences of opinion, regarding the territorial integrity of Georgia, for example. Time and again tensions have arisen over the strengthening of our role in the neighbourhood we share with Russia. In this context, it is often wrongly asserted that we are dependent on our large neighbour. When it comes to trade and energy, we are, rather, mutually dependent or, to put it another way, we have each become an indispensible partner for the other. These, then, are times in which our relations with Russia are hugely important, and in which a unified, visionary EU strategy is absolutely vital.
Tomorrow, President Obama will meet President Medvedev for the first time, in order to press the reset button, so to speak, for the USA’s relationship with Russia. This new approach is certainly to be welcomed, but we must not start again from scratch. We do not need to reset our relations; instead we should constantly fine tune them. This is right at the top of our list of priorities.
As the Commission noted in its communication of 5 November, the complex and extensive nature of our relations and the many areas in which we are mutually dependent mean that we need to engage consistently with Russia, and I would also say that we need to be sober and results-orientated. The negotiations over a new agreement are without doubt the best way of putting forward a unified EU position that defends our interests, with the aim of reaching an agreement on the most important areas. As I am talking to you right now, the fourth round of negotiations is underway in Moscow.
We have now agreed on a general structure for the agreement that should form a legally binding basis for all aspects of our relations in the foreseeable future. At the same time, however, we have not set any artificial deadlines for the negotiations: in my opinion, we should take as much time as is needed to achieve a satisfactory result, because the current agreement will remain in force until that point, and there is therefore no desperate need to proceed with great urgency. We do not therefore need to wait for the new agreement before we can deal with current issues. So far, issues of politics, justice and security have been discussed, such that there is now a better understanding of our respective positions; we have now started to discuss economic issues.
It should, in any event, come as no surprise to us that the two sides have very different approaches in some areas. While Russia has big ambitions for cooperation on foreign and security policy, for example, it is currently less ambitious when it comes to economic matters. Naturally, it is in our interest, in the EU, for our trade and economic relations to include legally binding, enforceable provisions, in order to make sure that Russia accepts a system based on clear rules. This applies in particular to the topic of energy, where we are striving for acceptance of the principles of the Energy Charter, the main ones being transparency, mutuality and non-discrimination.
The gas crisis at the beginning of the year has dented confidence in the reliability of our energy relations, and this must be rectified. We are therefore trying, in parallel to the negotiations, to significantly strengthen the early warning system, which lays down provisions on monitoring and observation in the event of crisis, in order to avoid conflict and facilitate resolution.
The agreement that we are negotiating should, of course, also be based on respect for human rights and democracy, and we believe this should be an essential component. When it comes down to it, Russia and the EU have, as Mr Vondra said, entered into the same commitments in the UN, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the Council of Europe. Our treaty should emphasise respect for these shared commitments and interests. Obviously, it cannot resolve the conflicts in Europe all on its own, but it should provide a framework for conflict resolution."@en1
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