Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-12-16-Speech-2-222"
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"en.20081216.31.2-222"2
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"Mr President, the French Presidency did not have it easy. It coincided with a time when the world, including the European Union, was shaken by a dramatic financial crisis. Fortunately, unlike certain European politicians, President Sarkozy did not believe we would remain unaffected by the crisis. He took very swift action, for which I should like to thank him most sincerely.
A further crisis arose during the past six months, namely Russia’s invasion of Georgia, one of our Eastern neighbours. Despite my generally favourable opinion of President Sarkozy, I have to say that he did not respond adequately to that challenge. His first mistake was to force President Saakashvili to sign an unsound agreement with Russia. The agreement was unsound because it did not provide Georgia with an essential guarantee, namely territorial integrity. At the time, Mr Sarkozy turned a deaf ear to colleagues he has himself today credited with the experience of decades spent behind the Iron Curtain. He must have turned a deaf ear to them, because had he heeded their advice, he would have learnt how experience had taught them that Russians consider any such concessions to be a sign of weakness. That is exactly what happened. The Russians are failing to comply even with that unsound agreement. The President of Poland was shot at on Georgian territory a few days ago, and the Russians have seized the Georgian village of Perevi. Even so, President Sarkozy has carried on regardless with his policy of mollifying Russia, reopening negotiations on a new Partnership and Cooperation Agreement.
President Sarkozy’s term of office as leader of the European Union will come to an end in a fortnight’s time. He will not, however, disappear off the European political scene, but will continue to play an important role on it. I therefore wish him every success in the future, and trust he will learn the lessons of his past mistakes."@en1
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