European Union
Documents from the informal EU summit in Lahti, Finland, last month — together with other top-secret papers — were found in a bin outside the Spanish foreign affairs ministry in Madrid last week.
Popularity: 3% [?]
November 15, 2006
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Posted in:
EU, Russia, European Union, Vladimir Putin, Finland, Spain, Jacques Chirac, Europe, Lahti, Romano Prodi, Angela Merkel, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Jose Manuel Barroso, European Commission, Guy Verhofstadt, Belgium, Javier Solana, Tony Blair, Jan Peter Balkenende, Bertie Ahern
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The Europian Union has reconsidered sanctions applied on Uzbekistan after hundreds were killed in Andijan mass disorders the BBC reported on Monday.
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Six major powers are set to resume attempts to agree on how to censure Iran for refusing to suspend sensitive nuclear fuel work as Russia hinted Tehran might be willing to return to negotiations, AFP reports.
Popularity: 1% [?]
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Posted in:
EU, Russia, European Union, Vladimir Putin, Nuclear Power, Iran, Bushehr project, China, UK, France, Germany, Ali Larijani
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Russia voiced its concern over the unabated rise in drug trafficking from Afghanistan at a meeting with EU officials Monday.
Huge volumes of illegal drugs arrive in Russia each year from Afghanistan, the world’s largest producer of heroin and opium, most of which is smuggled through Russia’s ex-Soviet neighbor Tajikistan.
Viktor Ivanov, speaking after a session of the Russia-European Union Permanent Partnership Council for justice and home affairs, said that in Afghanistan poppy farming areas now covered 120,000 hectares, and the annual harvest totaled almost 5,000 metric tons.
“We are very concerned over this issue. The issue was at the center of the talks,†Ivanov said.
Since the collapse of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in 2001, the international community has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on efforts to destroy poppy crops, close drug labs, pay subsidies to impoverished farmers and encourage them to cultivate alternate crops.
The presidential aide, quoted by RIA Novosti said the problem had social and economic roots, which have been exacerbated by weak government and inefficient law enforcement in Afghanistan.
Popularity: 8% [?]
October 31, 2006
The European Union said Friday it was not ready to invite Ukraine to join, dashing the hopes of President Viktor Yushchenko who has been pressing for accession talks to start in 2008, International Herald Tribune reports.
Speaking at an EU-Ukraine summit meeting in Helsinki, Finland, the European Commission president, Jos? Manuel Barroso, said Ukraine had not enacted sufficient economic and political reforms to make it a contender for EU membership. “Ukraine is not ready, and we are not ready,†he said.
Barroso added at a joint news conference with Yushchenko that his comments should not be construed as a “negative signal†for Ukraine, but were calculated to encourage the country to press ahead with difficult reforms.
Barroso’s cautious tone comes as the Union suffers from expansion fatigue following its enlargement in May 2004 into a bloc of 25 countries with 470 million people.
Ukraine has grown increasingly frustrated with Brussels’ refusal to offer membership. Yet many European countries fear that adding another big country like Ukraine, with a population of about 47 million, would hamper the bloc’s effectiveness.
The two sides did, however, agree to begin negotiations next year on a new economic and political cooperation agreement that would improve cooperation on trade, diplomacy, justice and environmental protection. They also signed a deal that would ease the visa requirements for Ukrainians wanting to work in the EU and the repatriation of illegal immigrants to Ukraine. Kiev eliminated visa requirements for EU citizens in 2005.
Yushchenko welcomed the agreement, which would ease the procedures for granting short-stay visas to Ukrainian citizens traveling to the EU, with the goal of issuing such visas in less than 10 days. “This document will be felt by every Ukrainian,†he said.
EU officials said they had also won assurances from Ukraine on the security of the bloc’s energy supplies. EU nations were alarmed last winter when a pricing war between Ukraine and Russia resulted in a temporary cut in part of the gas supply coming into the EU via Ukraine. Barroso said that a pricing deal this month between Russia and Ukraine meant that the EU’s energy supply was assured, at least for this year.
The EU also backed Ukraine’s bid to join the World Trade Organization, a prerequisite for signing an enhanced free trade accord with the EU. But it also called on Kiev to rein in corruption and improve political stability. Four ministers from Yushchenko’s party quit last week after talks collapsed on a coalition with Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, who is closer to Russia than the president.
The president and prime minister also have squabbled over Ukraine’s potential NATO membership, of which Yanukovich remains skeptical.
Ukrainian business leaders warned that the EU’s approach risked intensifying skepticism in Ukraine, where those in favor of joining the Union fell to 41 percent in 2005 from 51 percent in 2004.
Oleksandr Kharchenko, spokesman for Interpipe, a large Ukrainian manufacturer of train wheels and steel pipes, said the EU was erecting too many barriers to trade with Ukraine. “EU trade protectionism towards Ukraine only damages the perception that the Ukrainians have of the EU, and their willingness to forge further bonds,†he said.
Popularity: 1% [?]
October 28, 2006
Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued his sternest warning to Georgia so far, telling European Union leaders that Tbilisi was risking bloodshed by seeking to regain control over breakaway regions.
The Reuters news agency reports that Putin sounded a conciliatory note on energy cooperation with the 25-nation EU, agreeing to negotiate on common principles in a new strategic partnership agreement and giving an assurance that foreign oil and gas investments would be respected. But he firmly rebuffed EU criticism of Russia’s blockade of its former Soviet neighbor, saying Georgia had provoked the escalation in tension by staging a military buildup around the Russian-backed regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
“It is moving in the direction of bloodshed because the Georgian leadership is seeking to restore its control through military means and they are quite open about that,†Putin told a joint news conference after dinner with EU leaders. Georgia’s foreign minister accused Putin of deliberately misrepresenting the tensions between Georgia and Russia, and insulting the intelligence of his European colleagues.
“The government of Georgia and the people of Georgia have no intention to use force against its citizens as repeatedly stated,†Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili told reporters in Tbilisi. “This is pure fiction and the Russian president knows this but chooses to presume that the international community is ignorant,†he said.
The Europeans delivered a united message that Russia must give European firms a fair chance to access its huge energy resources or risk an investor exodus. “We need to develop mutual trust that requires transparency, the rule of law, reciprocity, nondiscrimination, market opening and market access,†European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said.
Putin said he believed there were no issues in energy cooperation that could not be resolved. He assured the Europeans that a decision to exclude foreign capital from development of the Arctic Shtokman gas field did not signal a change in rules for foreign investors and said Moscow would respect Shell’s license to operate its Sakhalin-2 project, which has been hit by Russian environmental charges.
Russian and European officials said Putin sought to tackle EU criticism head-on by inviting the leaders from the outset to question him on any sensitive issue. Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen said he had raised the murder of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya, a fierce critic of Putin, as well as Moscow’s treatment of Georgia and the harassment of Georgians in Russia.
Russia cut transport and postal links with Georgia after Tbilisi briefly detained four Russian army officers on spying charges last month. Some Georgians have been deported from Russia, Georgian businesses have been shut down and police have asked some schools to provide lists of pupils with Georgian-sounding names. Moscow has been irked by Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili’s pursuit of NATO and EU membership, while Georgia accuses Russia of backing separatists by giving aid and Russian passports to residents of the breakaway territories.
Popularity: 1% [?]
October 21, 2006
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Posted in:
Russia, Georgia, European Union, Vladimir Putin, Human Rights, Moscow, Oil & Gas, Mikhail Saakashvili, Democracy, Anna Politkovskaya, Russia’s image
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Russia does not have the same kind of democracy as in other European countries, Finland’s Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen has said. Russia has democratic institutions, but the way that they work is not the same as in other countries of Western Europe, he said.
Vanhanen made his comments in Brussels in a joint interview with three Nordic newspapers: Helsingin Sanomat, the Swedish Dagens Nyheter, and the Danish Politiken.
“They say themselves that they have a democracy of their own kind. I don’t remember the exact definitionsâ€, Vanhanen said when asked if there is a functioning democracy in Russia.
“It is not the same kind of democracy as in other European countries. Russia has democratic institutions, but the way that they work is not the same as we have in Western Europe.â€
Vanhanen was cautious in his assessment of democratic development in Russia.
“Our experiences in the development of democratic models of action and political parties are from 100 years back, and it is not easy to give advice on it. It is important for Russia to adhere to its commitments in the development of democracy.â€
Vanhanen again rejected criticism over the invitation of Russia’s President Putin to a dinner during the unofficial European Union summit in Lahti on Friday.
The visit comes at a sensitive time. In addition to the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, Russia has come under increasing criticism from the West over its treatment of neighboring Georgia.
Vanhanen said that thorny issues will also come up in Lahti, even though the main topics to be discussed with Putin are partnership questions and energy.
“If these questions are to be discussed, the only way to do it is to arrange an opportunity for a discussionâ€, he said.
Popularity: 1% [?]
October 18, 2006
The European Union argued on Tuesday over how strongly to criticize Russia’s treatment of neighboring Georgia, three days before a sensitive summit with President Vladimir Putin in Finland, the Reuters news agency reports.
The EU’s Finnish presidency prepared a draft statement for the bloc’s foreign ministers firmly condemning Moscow’s blockade of the former Soviet republic, but diplomats said west European countries wanted the declaration “rebalancedâ€.
Enraged by Georgia’s brief detention of four Russian army officers on spying charges last month, Moscow has cut transport and post links with the small Caucasus nation, stopped issuing visas and slapped restrictions on Georgians in Russia.
“The (E.U.) Council expresses its grave concern at the measures adopted by the Russian Federation against Georgia and at their economic, political and humanitarian consequences,†the draft statement said.
It also urged Moscow “not to pursue measures targeting Georgians in the Russian Federation.â€
However, strong resistance from west European states who see Russia as a key strategic partner and energy supplier seemed set to water down the Finnish draft.
“We must keep a balance. It’s not about condemning one side or the other,†said Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn.
“We do not want tension to rise, rise and rise. It is not in the interest of either the Russians or the Georgians,†he said.
Senior EU diplomats were unable to bridge differences over the wording on Tuesday morning, leaving the 25 ministers to arbitrate behind closed doors at a lunch session.
Diplomats said France led the countries seeking to tone down EU criticism of Moscow. Paris sought to refer to a United Nations resolution on the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia, which criticized the Tbilisi government.
The calibration of the statement will set the tone for the dinner talks with Putin at Friday’s informal E.U. summit in Lahti, north of Helsinki, at which EU leaders also plan to raise the murder of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya.
The Lahti meeting was originally intended to focus on co-operation on energy security. But EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said it would be hard to avoid raising European concerns at the silencing of one of the rare, critical media voices in Russia.
Diplomats said Baltic, Scandinavian and central European EU members were pushing for a tough line. “It’s a traditional division on Russia,†one said.
Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett highlighted European ambivalence about Russia when asked how hard the bloc would be on Georgia and human rights issues.
“We have always talked to Russia very frankly about any concerns that we have about issues like human rights, media freedom and so on. But of course energy security goes hand in hand … with climate security,†she said.
The draft EU statement for Tuesday also calls on Moscow and Tbilisi to focus on reaching a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Abkhazia and South Ossetia “in full respect of Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrityâ€.
Moscow, Georgia’s former ruler, has so far ignored pressure from the United States and the EU to call off its sanctions.
Political experts say Russia has been angered by Tbilisi’s moves towards closer ties and possibly membership of NATO. Many hawkish Russian politicians view the Caucasus as a vulnerable region where Moscow’s influence is waning.
Popularity: 13% [?]
