Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-04-01-Speech-3-046"
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"en.20090401.12.3-046"2
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"Madam President, last month, on behalf of Parliament, I went to the administrative borderline in Georgia, established by the South Ossetian separatists following the Russian military invasion. Looking at the checkpoint, where there was no formal communication on either side, it certainly did look like a scene from the Cold War. If we are not to move backwards, one concrete step the Russians could take is to help instigate full access for the very successful European police mission to both sides of the line so that they can properly fulfil their ceasefire monitoring duties. It would be a small but concrete step to build confidence, and I call on them to do so.
I also share the view expressed by many in this Parliament that, the more European solidarity we have, the better Europe-Russia relations will be. This fact was underlined again this week by Russia’s attempt to get separate, not common, agreements with EU countries on the import standards for fruit and vegetables. In this respect, I regret the speech today by the leader of the Liberal Democrats that sought to paint the Socialist position as soft on human rights. Not only will we vote to criticise Russia for breaching international election standards, for undermining freedom of expression, for the incarceration of political prisoners and for the intimidation and harassment of human rights defenders, but the speech simply demonstrates the very same point-scoring on Russia, which is itself an example of the lack of solidarity which holds us back.
Russia is affected by the economic crisis – like every country – suffering from the plummeting oil price, with a one-third devaluation of the rouble and a 75% drop in their stock market. Today President Medvedev is playing a full part in the G20 meeting in London. I believe that now the time is right, when Russia does need our cooperation and may be more open to change, if only we have the determination and the unity in the European Union to pursue it."@en1
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