Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-05-11-Speech-3-032-000"
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"en.20110511.4.3-032-000"2
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"Madam President, Baroness Ashton, ladies and gentlemen, as shadow rapporteur, I would first of all like to offer my sincere thanks to the rapporteur, Mr Albertini, for his very positive cooperation on this report.
In this report and, of course, in this debate as well, we have rightly focused primarily on southern areas and on the Middle East. I do not want to repeat what Mr Schulz, Mrs De Keyser and others have said. I would just like to refer briefly to the situation in Palestine and Israel.
I believe that the reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah and their readiness to found a state represent a major opportunity, because founding a state involves commitment and responsibility. We must definitely make that clear. We need the recognition of Israel, we need peace in the region and we need a renunciation of the use of violence.
That is extremely important. However, Israel must also recognise an independent Palestinian state in just the same way as Hamas must recognise the state of Israel. Only when we have this two-state solution can we also bring about peace in the Middle East.
I want to look not only southwards but also eastwards, because, on the one hand, I headed a parliamentary delegation to Turkmenistan and, on the other, yesterday I was appointed as Parliament’s rapporteur for Russia. Despite the understandable focus on the problems in the south, we must not forget how important our eastern neighbours are. Turkey also plays a major role in this respect. We should not simply regard Turkey from the perspective of an accession candidate. Turkey must also be our partner, in particular, with regard to the situation in the Mediterranean. However, it is also important for us to strengthen our contacts with Turkey when it comes to the Black Sea region and to include Turkey in our common European foreign and security policy. This does not necessarily have anything to do with the question of accession.
Secondly, partnership with Russia is a very important factor. We want to establish a partnership with Russia, but we need to negotiate from a position of strength and self-confidence. This is something which we are sometimes lacking in. While Russia has too much, we have too little. Only when we are on an equal footing will we be able to reach an agreement. Although I am very much in favour of this partnership, which must be a strategic partnership, I am very surprised by the pressure that Russia is now exerting, in particular, in Ukraine. Previously, we would have described the members of the governments of Russia and of Ukraine as friends, but the way in which Russia is now behaving towards Ukraine is far from fair. The same goes for its behaviour towards some energy suppliers and we have also seen this in Turkmenistan. Therefore, we must make it clear to Russia that we want a partnership based on equality and on common interests. Our objective must definitely be to establish a genuine and active partnership.
On the subject of Central Asia, Baroness Ashton, we want to become involved, but we have no representations there. I know that there are financial problems, but we urgently need diplomatic representations in the area. We want to buy energy from these countries. We want them to move towards democracy and to respect human rights. However, we are not really becoming sufficiently involved. Mr Morel is an excellent man and he is doing a very good job, but it is not enough. We need to establish more representations in these countries in Central Asia which are our neighbours. Either these countries will look only to China or to Russia, or they will at least have a chance to look towards Europe. I believe that this is important.
Finally, I would like to make it quite clear once again that we want to give you our full support. What you have said today is absolutely right. We in Parliament would perhaps like you to say it a little louder and more directly, even though that is not always your style, because then we would be able to give you even more support than we otherwise do."@en1
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