Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-12-15-Speech-2-289"
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"en.20091215.17.2-289"2
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"Mr President, first of all, thank you for the frank discussion that we have had today.
I cannot, of course, control what Georgia is doing on other issues, but on our money I can be clear.
There are other things that have been mentioned. For instance, the two teenagers that are still in detention in South Ossetia. These are issues that we do of course mention to the Russians. We talk about them, but for the moment, unfortunately, we have no solution to it and we ourselves cannot enter South Ossetia.
As regards the principle, of course we are clear on the principle. There is territorial integrity and there is sovereignty, and this is what we clearly say of Georgia. Absolutely. It is, however, one thing to speak about principles and another thing to implement these principles immediately. This, unfortunately, is sometimes quite difficult.
Let me also speak about the Tagliavini report. The very fact that this report has been publicised is a very important one. You know we supported this independent report. I have known Mrs Tagliavini for ages from when I was OSCE chairperson-in-office in the year 2000 as foreign minister of my country. She was then my special representative for the Caucasus. She is a very courageous, independent lady, and I must say she has made an excellent report.
This also helps because the report has made the facts clear. We draw the lessons from that, but we can only continue helping Georgia by diplomatic means.
Having said all of that, I can also say that we have been doing an enormous amount of work first on the neighbourhood policy to the east, and now on the Eastern Partnership.
The other day, we had a very important ministerial meeting under the Swedish Presidency with the six foreign ministers of the Eastern Partnership including the foreign minister from Georgia.
There, we also discussed all the possibilities, but would you really think that we can give everything to every country without them doing their part? We cannot. We have to ask them also to do their part. That also means on trade, as a free and deep trade agreement can only be there when the right legislation is there. We cannot just ask them to come into the European Union if the Council is not unanimous on it.
These are things where one has to see one side and the other, but we are supporting Georgia more than anybody else. So I would rather hope that this policy, as some have said, is really supported by you. This is a policy where we try to help them as much as we can, but we also want to see the right behaviour from Georgia.
I thought that many of you knew what we have been doing for Georgia. Georgia has received a lot of support from us, both political and also economic and humanitarian, but it seems as if we have not done anything. This is not true at all.
First of all, the war was stopped by the European Union and by Mr Sarkozy. Second, you are right, there is a six-point plan which, unfortunately, has not yet been fully implemented, but every time we work with the Russians, this is on our agenda. This is absolutely clear.
It is right, as the Council President said, that the only platform where we really start to go on, even slowly, is in Geneva, and so the Geneva talks have to go on.
We also need support and openness from both sides, because it is a difficult conflict and we are, so to speak, the mediators in this conflict. This is the number one political issue.
We do have to continue and we know very well that Russia is a huge partner on the other side. At the same time, we have a common neighbourhood, and therefore we always speak quite clearly about these issues with Russia. We do need, as I said here, the attitude on both sides to go forward, which is what I said in my speech if you will recall. This is the first point.
The second concerns the economic and humanitarian front, where we are working very closely indeed. The EUR 500 million package was the biggest package I could bring through. There is not so much money in the neighbourhood policy that I could have gone for, but this is what we did because we thought Georgia needed that after the war and all the damage that had been done – particularly for the most vulnerable.
I myself have visited the IDP camps and I have visited the houses that have been restored with our programmes.
I can tell Mrs Lunacek that I myself signed an agreement with the Georgians where they absolutely commit themselves to not using one cent of the European Union money. We always control our money, so normally there should not be a cent of our money going to re-arming on the Georgian side."@en1
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