Brussels, 02/04/2009 (Agence Europe) - The debate on how the EU should handle Russia continues to divide the European Parliament. The report by Janusz Onyszkiewicz (ALDE, Poland) on the future strengthened partnership agreement (see yesterday's EUROPE 9874) was approved by only a relatively modest majority during the plenary session on Thursday 2 April (416 votes to 80 and 147 abstentions). The main reason for this was that over 130 MEPs of the Socialist Group abstained and 30 even voted against as they consider the report is too critical towards Moscow. One Socialist amendment, which aims to describe the EU-Russia partnership as “strategic”, was moreover rejected by a large majority (420 votes against). During Wednesday afternoon's debate, Jan Marinus Wiersma of the Netherlands had already announced the mood, criticising the “wrong tone” of the report and calling for a “pragmatic, rational and constructive” approach towards Russia. “Russia must of course be strongly criticised for violating human rights as well as on energy policy and its attitude to its neighbours. But the EU must not forget that the Russian Federation plays a crucial role in the world. We need a positive dialogue on the most sensitive dossiers”, he said. Socialists mainly came up against the ALDE Group (to which the rapporteur belongs) whose leader, Graham Watson, was particularly stern towards Russia. It is “dishonest” to say that, because of its political importance, Russia's conduct is beyond reach of criticism, he said. Watson complained that Russia uses its energy resources like a weapon. It is a country whose aggressive attitude in the Caucasus and Baltic region makes its neighbours nervous, a country that respects rule of law in a flexible manner to favour those who support the Kremlin, and a country that does not respect the freedom of expression and where critics are assassinated. “Yes, we would build bridges, but we must not be uncritical of things that are unspeakable (…). The EU has three times the population, military spending ten times higher and an economy 15 times the size of Russia's. We have no reason to cower before the Kremlin and every reason to stand for our values”, Watson said. The whole EPP-ED Group (except for two abstentions) voted in favour of the Onyszkiewicz report, as did the Greens (with two abstentions and one blank vote).
In the report adopted, MEPs set out a series of recommendations to the Council and Commission that are conducting negotiations on the new agreement (supposed to replace the current CPA). Thus, the EP calls for the future agreement to be legally binding, to be based on the common commitment to respect human rights, and to cover all areas of cooperation between the parties. MEPs also stress that the relationship with Russia should be based on mutual respect of international law. They recommend setting a consultation mechanism in place under the responsibility of the high representative, in order to allow member states to consult each other sufficiently in advance on each bilateral issue (agreement or dispute) with Russia that is liable to have an impact on other member states and on the EU as a whole. This would allow the EU to adopt as cohesive a position as possible in time. The EU must also stress respect of media freedom in Russia and call for in-depth reorganisation of consultation exercises with Russia on human rights, MEPs say. They also call for the relationship with Russia to be based on liberalised and open market principles and on the reciprocity of investment rights. (H.B./transl.jl)