NEW WAVE OF MEPS MORE WARY OF RUSSIA, EU PARLIAMENT CHIEF SAYS
EUobserver.com
14:45 CET 28.09.2009
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – Members of the European Parliament from central
and eastern Europe have brought a different perspective on Russia
and energy security to Brussels, the president of the EU legislature,
Jerzy Buzek, said in an interview with this website.
"We are very much interested and sometimes worried about the EU’s
relations with Russia," he said. "It’s a very sensitive issue to some
countries, especially the Baltic states, which were inside the Soviet
Union. We need Russia, of course, but I think Russia needs us as well
and we should base our co-operation on shared rules and values."
Jerzy Buzek is a former Polish prime minister and activist in the
Solidarity movement, credited with helping end Russian rule in the
"new" EU states (Photo: European Parliament)
Mr Buzek, a former Polish prime minister and activist in the
anti-Communist Solidarity movement, is the first European Parliament
head to come from one of the Iron Curtain states which joined the EU
in 2004.
He said that questions of democracy and human rights "should never
be omitted when talking to Moscow," as well as other major powers
such as China.
On the subject of "energy security" – a phrase which has gained
prominence in Europe after several disruptions to Russian gas imports
– Mr Buzek warned that bilateral deal-making with Russian suppliers
hurts EU interests.
He voiced "strong belief" in Nabucco, an EU-backed pipeline project
designed to reduce energy dependency on Russia, while saying that
South Stream, a rival Russian scheme backed by Italy and France, is
"weakening our EU project."
"We take decisions based on our own interest, but very often that is
not in the interest of the whole EU. It would be better if we could
take the decision at EU level and negotiate for all member states,
taking into account the long term perspective, not just a year or two,"
he said.
Talks on a new EU-Russia Partne ssia’s refusal to adopt the Energy
Charter Treaty, the parliament president added, referring to an old
pact to help EU companies invest in Russia’s energy sector.
But the Pole remained optimistic that the EU’s nascent energy policy
will bear fruit in the coming years.
"Our common market of capital, goods and services took some years to
build and function properly. We just started with a common energy
policy and we’ve already taken some important decisions, such as
cross-border connections, how to tackle gas and electricity issues
inside the EU and help each other in case of emergency."
EU perspective for Moldova and Ukraine
In comments on another prickly area in EU-Russia relations, Mr Buzek
made the case for "opening the door" to future EU membership for
countries such as Moldova and Ukraine on the model of the Balkan
states.
"In the Balkans we had a horrible war more than 10 years ago. And
now every country – Albania, Kosovo, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Montenegro, Macedonia, Croatia – all are queuing for EU membership. And
this means no war," he said.
The European Parliament’s new assembly with MPs from the six countries
in the EU’s recently-launched "Eastern Partnership" policy – Georgia,
Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Armenia and Azerbaijan – will help transform
the region by fostering civil society, Mr Buzek believes.
"Civil society is the most important thing. It’s the basis
for democracy, a real market economy, social reforms, culture,
education. We’ve been through that, in Poland and other central and
eastern European states. We have the same task now ahead with the
Eastern Partnership."
EU economic solidarity
Mr Buzek hopes that his mandate, which ends in December 2011, will
see further softening of the disparities between "old" and "new"
member states in what will one day be a "common" Europe.
"I would like to see the re-unification of our continent and a
deep feeling that all member states, despite different levels of
development, feel responsible for the whole EU and that we feel
solidarity eady to help any region in the EU which needs it," he said.
Europe’s so-called cohesion policy – which provides aid for
infrastructure, sewage systems and energy connections to the bloc’s
poorest regions – has been important to the new member states, whose
MEPs have "a special sensitivity" to the issue, Mr Buzek explained.
With discussions on the EU’s next seven-year budget likely to be
more tense than ever due to the economic crisis, he stressed that
EU cohesion policy remains important not only for the newcomers,
but also for some regions in Finland, Portugal, Spain or the former
East Germany.
Mr Buzek argued that it was "natural" for national governments to
react in a protectionist way in a crisis, when "people start to be
slightly selfish."
"But we must explain that it is actually thanks to the integration
of member states that the [EU] economy is stronger than it would have
been without it," the parliament president said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
