Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-11-20-Speech-3-235"
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"en.20021120.5.3-235"2
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".
It has certainly been a lively debate. I almost saw myself in the role of one of those Members of Parliament who demanded that now the Presidency should do this and that and pointed out that the Council had failed to do this or that or the other. That is how it should be, and I would call upon Parliament to continue to hold the Council to the democratic ideals on which Parliament is based.
I will not, moreover, continue now with a ‘but’. I will continue with an ‘and’, because I have always understood our common approach to mean that we must also be good neighbours, that we must also be able to solve common problems and that we must also have sufficient contact with each other to allow a dialogue, so that we can say the things that need to be said. I would say to Mr Posselt that if we are to move Russia in the right direction in the area of human rights, it is necessary for there to be a place where we can have a dialogue with Russia. This place existed a week ago in Brussels, but it makes no difference whether it is in Copenhagen or Brussels. We had the dialogue, the necessary things were said and Mr Patten was a witness. Mr Nielson has confirmed this today. The Council said exactly what had to be said to Russia, on the subject of Chechnya too.
With regard to Mr Zakayev, who is currently in custody in Denmark, I should like to tell Mr Dupuis that the Zakayev case is being dealt with entirely in accordance with the principles of the rule of law, in accordance with European extradition rules and in accordance with our established policy on combating terrorism. Not a single political decision has been taken in respect of Mr Zakayev. Everything has been done by the book. We have followed the textbook of democracy to the letter. The same applies, moreover, to the holding of the conference which created the conflict between Denmark and Russia. This conference was held because it is a democratic right to hold conferences. That is not something we can prevent, and we stand by that right, just as we have held firm in all other aspects to our democratic ideals. I completely agree that, as has been pointed out by Mr Poettering and many others, we must not sacrifice human rights on the altar of combating terrorism. Of course not. It was precisely this, moreover, on which the dialogue with Russia at the summit was based. We are in agreement on the fight against terrorism, but we are not in agreement in our appraisal of what has gone on, and is still going on, in Chechnya, and this was stated very, very clearly.
A solution was successfully found to the Kaliningrad problem, and one which respected the sovereignty of Lithuania and Lithuania’s right to accede to Schengen. The fact that we managed to solve a problem in the region around us in this way is very important for enlargement. Moreover, with regard to the yet to be ratified border agreement between Russia and Lithuania, I can state that, during the summit negotiations, the Presidency made it very clear to Russia that we are assuming that the border agreement between Russia and Lithuania will now be signed. So nothing was forgotten. There was nothing that we should be ashamed of. Everything was done by the book of democracy. Fortunately, the dialogue was maintained, and the problems which were to be solved at the summit were solved.
I would like, however, to end by saying that it is important for Parliament to hold fast to its ideals and take the Council to task if there is a risk of our not doing the same. Stick at it. I do not, however, think that there is any reason to admonish the Council or the Presidency for the way in which they handled this very difficult summit which has just taken place."@en1
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