Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-10-25-Speech-4-532-000"
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"en.20121025.35.4-532-000"2
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"Madam President, Commissioner, as we discuss – not for the first time – the accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) of the Russian Federation, it is easy to forget that trade with the Russian Federation is, and in my opinion will continue to be, of strategic relevance to Europe because there is so much of it and because of the direction it is taking.
I would like to respond to the report by Mr Sturdy, since he examines the status of the relationship with the Russian Federation from economic perspectives, taking Russia’s accession to the WTO, after years of negotiation, as the reference point. I am grateful to the permanent rapporteur for trade negotiations with the Russian Federation for not allowing himself to ignore troubling news about social conflicts, increasingly arbitrary behaviour by the authorities and new, ambivalent legal situation in Russia, but for sticking soberly to the facts.
There are policy areas that cannot just be subsumed under the logic and dynamism of foreign policy. We have talked about this here several times before. Parliament should also form policy with a view to economic cooperation and create trade relations independently of political trends. I welcome the fact that the Commission representatives here in Parliament recently made a commitment to guarantee the stability of this relationship and, as a consequence, to take the Russian leadership at its word regarding the modernisation of the country and its interest in having the EU at its side as a partner.
One of the major lessons of the earlier conflicts in Europe is that rapprochement brings change. Mutual rapprochement works in the 21st century but only on an equal footing and through joint efforts. Trade is not an instrument for this rapprochement but does have exactly this effect. This change, which, along with further economic cooperation, we feel is justified, should have as its aim a movement towards greater social justice, less poverty, greater democracy, obviously greater rule of law and thus respect for human rights. We know that the rule of law without democracy – or vice versa – does not work. However, greater democracy without greater social justice, greater application of trade union rights, international labour norms, environmental standards, etc. is even worse. This also applies to the serious consideration of the impacts of the Russian Federation’s accession to the WTO, which in the medium term are not easy to predict, on jobs in industry, the service sector and elsewhere.
I believe we should also take a fresh look at trade barriers. What is really preventing trade with Russia at present is not only trade barriers as we define them but also the continued existence of the visa requirement. The statements at the EU-Russia summit in this regard read well but have not added anything of substance yet. We ought to change this."@en1
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