Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-11-11-Speech-3-142"
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"en.20091111.16.3-142"2
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"Madam President, Russia is a strategic partner on the one hand but also a neighbour, and as a neighbour, it is more complicated. However, especially at a time of economic uncertainty, I think it is all the more important to ensure that the relationship between Europe and Russia works as effectively as possible to deliver security, stability and prosperity for our citizens and also for Russia’s citizens. We must therefore redouble our efforts to find common ground on issues where our views differ – for instance on human rights questions or on questions on the common neighbourhood – but also to keep the door open for dialogue and debate that respects our differences but also respects our common commitments. This is, so to say, the general line.
I think again that the scope of our relationship is enormous. There is a lot to be discussed and we do not always see eye to eye with Russia, but we can always debate on every issue, and this is what we do.
Now let me say a few very specific things. Russia’s WTO accession is, and remains, a key objective for us. In so saying, it is time to resolve several issues that remain outstanding in this trade relationship. Some of these, such as the Transnistrian overflight charges, have been on our agenda for many years. They have always been mentioned at the many summits I have been on. Others, such as the proposed decree limiting the transport of containers by road, are more recent, and I personally – and all the Commission services – raise these issues whenever we talk to Russia. Indeed, we just had a permanent partnership council, but of course, we could again do so.
The second item I want to mention is energy. The European Union and Russia are, as I said, also important partners in the energy field. The relation is one of interdependence, which offers both sides a strong motivation to put our energy relations on a predictable and also on a concrete basis. Ensuring an unhindered and uninterrupted energy supply to the European Union, thus preventing and overcoming emergency situations, is therefore of the utmost importance. This is what we aim to achieve with, for instance, the Early Warning Mechanism on which we are working and where it is important that we work with the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation. We have discussed this issue and I do hope that we can move on.
On Ukraine and, especially, the transit of gas, we at the Commission have been working with the Ukrainian authorities, but also with the international financial institutions, on a loan package that would address both payment difficulties for the storage of gas from Russia and the reform and modernisation of the Ukrainian gas sector.
An agreement was reached at the end of July, thus paving the way for financial assistance by the international financial institutions based on the implementation of a number of conditionalities. We hope that it will really work, and we also have to make sure that there is a very clear and transparent legal basis for the energy relationship. This is what we are aiming for, particularly in our new agreement.
With regard to human rights, I did speak about human rights. We have spoken about human rights whenever we have been at the summit. I would like to say a few words on the death penalty, because this is, of course, not acceptable for us according to our community of values. Yes, the constitutional court in Russia is debating this issue at the moment, but we were told that there are indications that the court will conclude that Russia is bound by its signature of Protocol 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights and thus, will most probably not apply the death penalty. Let us hope that this will indeed be true.
As I mentioned before, Russia itself has, as a member of the UN, as a member of the OSCE and the Council of Europe, entered into very important commitments on human rights. These are always discussed in our EU-Russia human rights consultations. As these just took place in Stockholm on 5 November, I did not go into any details, but everybody who is informed knows about that.
My last point is indeed a positive one: youth cooperation in science and technology. Yes, as Mr Fleckenstein mentioned, stimulating exchanges and cooperation between young people from the European Union and from Russia is a key concern for us and we are making our programmes available for this purpose. These have proven beneficial within the European Union itself, for instance, TEMPUS and Erasmus Mundus, and this is also an avenue we should continue to explore.
In this context again, we are launching the negotiation of Russia’s association to the European Community Framework Programme on Research and Technological Development. That is also an area of enormous economic potential."@en1
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