Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-11-11-Speech-3-114"
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"en.20091111.16.3-114"2
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"Madam President, just a year ago, we reviewed EU-Russian relations and decided that the European Union should – despite our major differences with Russia over the conflict in Georgia – pursue cooperation with this major neighbour, including on the negotiation of the new agreement. We also concluded that we should base our relations on the assessment of our own self-interest. The Stockholm Summit next week will therefore focus on areas – as has been said already – where there is mutual interest, for example, climate change and energy, and the global economic crisis.
The financial crisis has hit Russia hard, and this is precisely the kind of policy area in which the European Union also has a clear interest in seeking a common policy approach. The G20 commitments were an important step in the right direction. I think it is important that they are now upheld by all partners. It is crucial, too, that Russia does not succumb to the temptations of protectionism. A tendency to protectionist practices is already hurting EU businesses.
Clearly, we believe that the best way forward is to work together in a rules-based multilateral format. The summit will be an opportunity to again stress the importance of Russia’s WTO accession. Russia’s intention to complete negotiations in parallel with Belarus and Kazakhstan, with which it is planning a customs union, still leaves many questions unanswered. At the same time, we hope to get a better understanding of Russia’s new approach at the summit. This is important, not least in the context of the ongoing negotiations for the new agreement which are being held by the Commission and which must contain clear, legally binding provisions on trade and investment and also on energy.
The summit should also provide definitive clarity as to the conditions concerning bilateral trade from 1 January 2010 onwards under the new common external tariff system of the customs union.
Turning to climate change, my colleague has already said that the summit should underline the leading roles that Russia and the European Union can play together in achieving results at the Copenhagen meeting. Russia has the scope to make a very substantial contribution, given its enormous scope for emissions reductions through improvements in energy efficiency. We will therefore be calling on Russia to commit itself to more ambitious reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, comparable with the targets we have set ourselves in the EU.
On energy security, work continues on an enhanced early warning mechanism. We regret Russia’s withdrawal from the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), but we recall that the principles of the ECT were affirmed under Russia’s presidency of the G8, for instance, in the St Petersburg Declaration. These should therefore form the basis of our work on energy security under the new EU-Russia agreement. While we should be ready to discuss Russia’s wish for a wider debate on international energy security architecture, I think we will also want, above all, to establish the essentials of our bilateral energy relationship.
While we work well with Russia on many aspects of international relations, we need to make more progress in our cooperation in the common neighbourhood. We will therefore continue to explain our view that the political and economic stability encouraged by the Eastern Partnership is, finally, in the interests of all parties. We will continue to encourage Russia to work constructively for the resolution of the outstanding issues and conflicts, be they in Transnistria or Nagorno-Karabakh, and also through the Geneva process.
President Medvedev’s proposal for a wider discussion of Euro-Atlantic security has led to a new process of talks under the aegis of the OSCE. I think it is now important that this debate does not distract us from the immediate task of resolving today’s frozen conflicts. The EU-Russia strategic partnership must – as was said before – be based on common commitments in the area of human rights and democracy. Russia has entered into commitments as a member of the United Nations, the OSCE and the Council of Europe, and these have to be upheld.
I think it is also crucial that we go further and work together on all the different issues. We know that the relationship between Russia and the EU is complex, but full of opportunities, and also has a vast potential. We will therefore pursue our principled course of critical, but also constructive, engagement with our neighbour, confident that Russia, too, knows its interests lie in maintaining a real strategic partnership with us."@en1
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