Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-12-18-Speech-4-172"
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"en.20031218.7.4-172"2
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"Mr President, an ancient Christian kingdom that had long repelled all invaders became a Russian colony. Then after the First World War, Georgia enjoyed a brief period of independence during what we might term the ‘Caucasian Spring’, a fact that is generally forgotten. It was brought to an end by Lenin, who failed to uphold his own principles of nationality. Then a strong liberation movement emerged at the end of the Soviet era. We should not forget that the liberation movement in the Soviet Union began very vigorously and very early in Georgia. We ourselves have a great deal to thank Georgia for when it came to the fall of the Iron Curtain. Then President Gamsakhurdia was murdered. This was followed by civil unrest, the separatist movements and the Shevardnadze era, which has now come to an end – thankfully without bloodshed. The country is now at a stage where it finally has a chance to establish a system genuinely rooted in freedom.
We must ensure that after many decades of foreign tutelage, the country has the opportunity at last to become what it once was in history, namely a genuinely independent and peaceful factor in a very important and very dangerous region. That is why we must push to ensure that Russia upholds the binding commitments it made to the OSCE in 1999. We often demand, very arrogantly, of small states that they honour commitments that have often been imposed upon them, so we must be rigorous in demanding that when a major power enters into such commitments voluntarily, it is scrupulous in upholding them.
Mrs Schleicher is quite right, in my view, to say that Russia cannot be our partner if it fails to fulfil its commitments on this key issue. We see that there are other powers as well which, for geostrategic and energy reasons, are aspiring to establish a particular dominance in the region. That is why it is our obligation, as Europeans, to stabilise Georgia as our partner, although I would not go as far as Mr Dupuis, who is demanding full membership. Georgia is a country with a great European tradition. It is our valued partner and it can be a beacon of freedom in an extremely dangerous region."@en1
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