Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-02-26-Speech-4-013"
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"en.20040226.1.4-013"2
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"Mr President, I will continue what is very much a Finnish debate, although I am largely of the same opinion as Mr Brie, who has just spoken, although he is not my fellow countryman.
The fact that relations between the EU and Russia are now more unpredictable than for a time is the fault of both sides. It would be worrying if Russia were to become our own Middle East, and, because of European dependence on energy, we were prepared to allow human rights violations such as those played out in the tragedy that is Chechnya to continue from one year to the next, and accept the increased risks attached to the transportation of oil, the collapse of nuclear safety, and the alarming restrictions on civil liberties. The crucial issue here is freedom of speech, and one only has to go by Russia’s track record on other political rights to reach a reliable conclusion on that. An independent media and judiciary are vital to allow a robust civil society to develop in Russia, which has never yet been a true nation-state.
The EU does not seem to have any coherent or consistent policy with regard to Russia; neither are issues given any sort of priority. That is also shown by the way the Union’s Northern Dimension has been neglected, although it embraces regional cooperation, especially in Baltic and Arctic areas, which is vitally important for the stability of the EU’s neighbouring regions and the common stability that results from that, and although its importance will only increase as the Union is now expanding to include the Baltic countries. The Northern Dimension is certainly different from Kaliningrad, which is symbolised, for example, by the Sami people who live in the Arctic region that stretches from Norway to Russia and who at the same time are the EU’s only indigenous people.
Ending on a positive note, let it be said that our land border with Russia has been remarkably peaceful and free of problems, and the EU does not really deserve the credit for that."@en1
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