Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-05-25-Speech-3-072"
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"en.20050525.13.3-072"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to start by congratulating the rapporteur, Mrs Malmström, on this very comprehensive report covering all aspects of relations between the European Union and Russia. It goes without saying that these relations have a particularly important place in the European Union’s external relations, a place that has become even more important since the enlargement of the EU. It is also true that this report was, to a large extent, drafted prior to the summit. We will therefore have to examine how the analysis and facts set out in this report will need to be supplemented in the light of the conclusions and discussions that took place at the 15th EU
Russia summit in Moscow on 10 May.
It is also stipulated in the joint road map that all cooperation processes must be based on the sovereign decisions of States and the text clearly recognises
and I think that this is one of the most important points
that the European Union and Russia share the same common values. It is therefore those common values, including respect for sovereign rights, and also respect for human rights and for the principles of the rule of law, that must guide the development of our relations with Russia. Let me take this opportunity to say a word about our common interests concerning the fight against terrorism: the fight against terrorism must be based on these values and on respect for the rule of law.
The space of research, education and culture is an important space where the people of Russia and Europe can meet and forge closer links, because we have a common cultural and historical heritage. In this important space, we need to develop a number of initiatives. One in particular has already been decided: a European institute in Moscow is to be opened in 2006.
By way of conclusion, I would like to stress the importance of all our relations with Russia. With this great country, which also holds the key to the stability of our continent, we need to build a long
term trusting relationship based, I would stress again, on democratic principles, on just those values that must characterise the construction of this greater Europe that we want just as much as they seem to. In so doing, we cannot ignore the fact that we must also engage in a tough but constructive dialogue on issues of human rights, on issues to do with the freedom of the press, and on other humanitarian issues arising in particular in regions such as Chechnya. This dialogue has been launched, particularly on human rights. It must be pursued actively as an integral part of our relations with Russia, because it is in the interests of the European Union to have a reliable partner in Russia, to have a partner that contributes to the stability of our continent and that also shares the fundamental values that we are trying to defend on this continent.
It was at that summit that the European Union and Russia reached agreement on the terms of a strategic partnership enabling us to improve cooperation in the four Common Spaces: the economic space and the spaces of freedom, security and justice, of external security and, finally, of research, education and culture. Of course, the negotiations on the four road maps specifically identifying cooperation in these four spaces encountered some difficulties, given that their aim was to reorganise all of our relations by adopting hundreds of operational points that now need to be implemented. We can, however, congratulate ourselves on the result achieved.
By agreeing, in Moscow, on an overall package including road maps for the four spaces, Russia and the European Union have succeeded in reaching a new stage in relations between them, namely the implementation of a true strategic partnership as decided upon in May 2003 at the Saint Petersburg summit. This is an undeniable success which has not been significantly tarnished by the Russians’ reference to certain difficulties connected with the transit of goods to Kaliningrad. In the opinion of President Putin, the agreement on the four spaces should make it possible, in his words, ‘to build a greater Europe’. I think that is an objective that we can share, provided that this greater Europe is based on values to which we ourselves subscribe.
With regard to the Economic Space, during the summit, Russia renewed its agreement, given in 2004, to the gradual abolition of payments for Siberian overflight rights, which are no longer justified. Negotiations on the exact procedure for this phasing out should be concluded shortly, and its entry into force should not be delayed.
Russia expressed its wish for greater cooperation in the energy sector, which moves in the direction of our own interests. It is presenting itself as a reliable partner for the European Union in this sector, as in others, and it has committed itself to implementing the Kyoto Protocol, even if it is threatening at the same time to withdraw if the system is not reformed by 2012. These discussions show that the subject of global warming and the Kyoto Protocol, and particularly what will follow the Kyoto Protocol, is vitally important and we must therefore pursue this line of dialogue with the Russians.
Russia’s membership of the WTO is also a prospect that must be developed rapidly, as it is once again a matter of fully integrating Russia into the multilateral system by making it subject, in this way, to international disciplines, particularly to disciplines in terms of trade.
With regard to the space of freedom, security and justice, one of the most important points in this space is certainly the free movement of persons. Despite the lack of specific results on this point at the summit, the European Union still views it as extremely important to reach a speedy conclusion to negotiations with the Russians with a view to signing an agreement relaxing, on the basis of strict reciprocity, the conditions for issuing short
stay visas, and also a readmission agreement. This latter point is vital for the EU and there can be no relaxation in the visa requirements without a parallel readmission agreement. We know that the Russians are reporting difficulties in this respect, but they are no longer rejecting or ruling out the conclusion of such an agreement, which they are now linking to the conclusion of similar agreements with their own neighbours. This is therefore a matter that must be developed continuously and a subject on which dialogue with the Russians must be actively pursued.
I am also pleased that, on 18 May, the Russians signed the agreement fixing the border with Estonia. We are, unfortunately, still waiting for an analogous agreement to be signed with Latvia and we must encourage the Russians to sign such an agreement.
With regard to the space of external security, we agreed with the Russians during the summit that closer cooperation should make it possible to work together to reach a peaceful conclusion to what are known as ‘frozen’ conflicts affecting our common neighbourhood or, rather, to use the wording that was finally used in the conclusions, ‘the regions adjacent to Russia and the European Union’. In this context, I am thinking, amongst other things, of the Transnistrian conflict in the Republic of Moldova. Adoption of the wording ‘adjacent regions’ enabled us to overcome the initial reservations that Russia expressed on this subject and I think that both the European Union and Russia have much to gain from our cooperation in this region of the world where any developments have direct repercussions for Russia and the EU."@en1
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