Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-05-25-Speech-3-074"
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"en.20050525.13.3-074"2
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".
Mr President, let me begin by thanking Mrs Malmström for the very useful report. Its timing is highly opportune, coming just after the successful EU
Russia summit that President Barroso, Commissioner Mandelson and I attended in Moscow, together with the Council presidency. As we now begin implementing what has been agreed, it is very important to say that Russia is a strategic partner, but at the same time we also have to speak with one voice and we have to address all the questions – both the more difficult and the less difficult questions – which I can assure you we did.
Turning to external security, we agreed with the Russian authorities that we both want an integrated Europe without new dividing lines. Even if the four common spaces include the notion of adjacent regions, President Putin himself acknowledged that it is a common neighbourhood and we have to work within the common neighbourhood to make it a better, more stable neighbourhood for both of us. That means that we want to cooperate on the question of stability and prosperity in neighbouring countries such as Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia, without forcing them to choose one camp. They should proceed with their internal reforms and find solutions for their very difficult problems.
Finally, let me underline the importance of our agreement on research, education and culture. Those areas, even if they do not seem to be highlighted, are specific areas for people
to
people contacts. We want to promote more exchanges with regard to university studies and also want to work on different cultural projects with Russia.
Your resolution rightly draws attention to the fact, as I said at the beginning, that Russia is an important strategic partner for us, and all the more so since enlargement. This has highlighted the need to further develop cooperation with Russia in the north
western regions, especially in the ‘Northern Dimension’. I must also agree with your suggestion that the Union’s policy on Russia has too often suffered from a lack of coherence. I said Member States must stick to the common line and we appealed very often to them to do so during our negotiations. Since in the end everybody stuck to this line, we managed to come to an agreement.
I hope the success of our summit will enable us to strengthen relations on a now broadly agreed basis and in a coherent manner. We will be able substantially to deepen our cooperation across a wide range of sectors, and we must use all the possibilities offered by the existing Partnership and Cooperation Agreement.
I can assure Parliament that the Commission will take full account of all the points made in its resolution and I remain as always at your disposal for further discussions.
Many of the issues in your report are highly relevant to the discussions we had in Moscow. Let me give you a very short overview from my side. Of course, I can only complement what the presidency very eloquently said.
The major achievement was adopting the four roadmaps for the four ‘common spaces’ that we have been negotiating for many months. The last summit meeting in November was more difficult and we were far from coming to an agreement, whereas through the many individual negotiations that we conducted we finally achieved our result in the four areas: the economy; freedom, security and justice; external security; and research and culture. They will now provide a good basis for significantly enhancing and strengthening our relations with Russia in the coming years, which is necessary. We have the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, but this alone is no longer an adequate basis. We had to enhance it by these four common spaces.
More importantly, we confirmed that the EU
Russia relationship is based on common values – and I am glad that President Putin himself mentioned that – including respect for human rights and democracy, the rule of law, and a free market economy. These values must now also guide us as we turn to implementation. President Putin, in a speech he gave in the Duma, very clearly mentioned that, and we are encouraged by this as also by the human rights dialogue that we had with Russia, which was a very frank and open dialogue where all these questions were raised and discussed.
In the economic sphere, I very much welcome your emphasis on our common interest in seeing Russia become a real partner with an open, dynamic, intensified economy and also – this is equally important – a transparent judicial system. This will be at the forefront as Russia comes closer to WTO membership and, as you said, we all support that because we think this is the direction that has to be taken and which will start to create a real common economic space.
At the summit we also made clear that phasing out non
commercial payments for Siberian over
flights is essential for our economic cooperation. We also ensured that energy cooperation and the Kyoto Protocol are very high on the list of priorities in our roadmap. I can confirm to you that, as requested in your resolution, the Commission will continue to provide financial support for Russia’s implementation of Kyoto and for nuclear safety.
In the field of freedom, security and justice, we agreed that we must rapidly conclude negotiations on both, on the one hand on readmission and on the other hand on visa facilitation. I believe that the agreement on both issues is within reach and we should aim to conclude it as soon as possible. Our aim would be the next summit in October. I know this is a very ambitious aim but I say as soon as possible. The Commission and the Member States remain convinced – we said so clearly and it was part of our difficult negotiations until the very end – that the simultaneous implementation of the two agreements is essential.
We also raised, as did President Barroso, the issue of human rights and the dialogue with Russia on the Northern Caucasus. Following the April fact
finding mission by DG Relex, we are now exploring ways and means of providing financial support, especially for socio
economic recovery, in addition to our considerable humanitarian assistance. We have to create a new climate there and we also want to do a lot on the question of technical support. We want to bring people out of the Northern Caucasus, out of Chechnya, so that they can also see a different environment. This is also very important for a future process designed to lead to reconciliation and to better social and economic conditions.
Of course all this should lead to free and fair elections. This should be the aim. We would also like to improve administrative and institutional structures. We have to continue our dialogue with the Russian authorities on this point. We also agreed that human rights and international obligations must be respected as part of fighting terrorism in an effective and very resolute way."@en1
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