Stockholm, Wednesday, 13 October 1999

Transcription

1 THE EU-RUSSIA STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP Speech by the High Representative designate of the European Union For Common Foreign and Security Policy, Javier SOLANA Stockholm, Wednesday, 13 October 1999 Ladies and Gentlemen, Developing the Partnership with Russia is the most important, the most urgent and the most challenging task that the European Union (EU) faces at the beginning of the 21 st Century. It offers the greatest opportunity to affect the cause of world affairs for the better and to begin the new century in a manner which will truly affect the course of history. We are at a crucial point in the history of the EU and Russia. Both the EU and Russia are at the end of one era and on the threshold of another. Russia has undergone an intense 10-year period of transformation and is soon to hold elections which will draw a close to this decade and open up new perspectives for the coming century. We are confident that, whatever government comes to power after these democratic elections, it will tackle the issues facing Russia pragmatically and will see the EU as a major partner. The EU for its part has a new commitment to develop a Common and Foreign Security Policy, and has a new common strategy for Russia. This strategy is to cement the partnership between the EU and Russia so that we can exploit these new beginnings together. Developing this partnership and exploiting this opportunity for a fresh start presents a challenge to us in the economic, the political, the social and the security spheres at one and the same time. It is as exciting as it is complex, and we must not fail. The Main Elements of an EU/Russia Partnership The first question we must answer is: what do we want from the Partnership? Why is it important to us? We cannot just assume that this importance is understood. There are some who believe that Russia cannot be a reliable partner, or that Russia could fail and that we cannot do anything about it. There are many more who talk about the importance of this Partnership, but who do not understand how much political effort and economic investment will be necessary to make it work. From my point of view, we have to be prepared for a lot of hard work. Building a partnership with Russia will not be easy, but I would argue most strongly that it is an opportunity we cannot afford to miss. This is why. Firstly, Russia is a natural partner of the EU. The EU is Russia s most important trading partner with today over 40% of Russia s foreign trade. After enlargement this figure will rise to 50%. This trade with Russia is mutually beneficial: Russia and the EU need one another. Furthermore, good trade relations are the very basis for a good political and security relationship. 1

2 Secondly, Russia is a country in transition towards democracy and market economy. It is strongly in our interest that this transition is successful so that we can live in harmony with Russia. The EU, with its trade on the basis of mutual economic self-interest, has the best means of supporting this process of transition and helping Russia achieve the necessary reforms. Thirdly, we need to engage Russia in partnership for security reasons. Russia is a natural security partner for Europe our security is indivisible. We cannot have a secure Europe without a secure Russia. Today, Europe no longer faces major war as its main security fear. But the heritage of the Cold War has left its security threats, for example in the form of the nuclear environmental problems that plague the north of Europe, and in the potential for nuclear proliferation. The potential for regional conflict in many areas on Europe s periphery brings the threat of refugee migration to our member countries. We are all only too well aware of the threat that the growth of organised crime brings to our societies. Inasmuch as these problems are in part shared by Russia we must, in our own best interest, get into partnership with Russia to deal with the problems at their source. So - the main elements of our partnership must be threefold: - economic - political and social - security Now, what difficulties do we face in the development of a strategy for partnership with Russia? There are important issues to tackle on the Russian side and also on our side. Let us take Russia first. The time is now ripe for the EU and Russia to sit down together and work out what mechanisms we need to address and solve the problems that face us both. We must recognise that Russia has not yet developed all the complex and permanent mechanisms of state which we in our member countries can take for granted. We must never forget the great progress Russia has made in the past decade. But our Russian colleagues would be the first to recognise that there is much scope for further development. As a result we must expect the progress of our partnership, at least initially, to be complex and at times uncomfortable as we learn to work with one another. In my time at NATO I experienced this as we strove to establish a successful partnership with Russia in the security sphere. It was difficult, and continues to be uncomfortable at times, but it was well worth the effort. The first practical issue we have to deal with is the current political volatility in Moscow. Russia has still not completed the institutionalisation of its democratic gains. Consequently, instead of dealing with institutions which follow our procedures and logic, we are dealing with a system in which the governmental process is still evolving. It is strongly influenced by individuals, and senior officials change frequently. Dealing with this requires knowledge, patience and understanding on our side. Furthermore, the dynamics of the political system are highlighted by the evolution of the Russian Federal System as the relationship between the centre and the regions changes. Almost a year ago, Finnish President Ahtisaari said that Russia faces the choice of "decentralization by design or disintegration by default". 2

3 This poses the problem of how the EU and its members deal with Russia s regions. A complicating issue, and one which is regrettably becoming a problem everywhere, is the issue of organised crime and corruption. This is a topic which many officials are embarrassed to raise. It is not pleasant to do so. But it is something we cannot close our eyes to. This is a real threat to our projects everywhere and we must take careful account of it in all of our work from now on. If we ignore it the efforts of well-intentioned people on both sides, then this, and any other, partnership will be much less effective. Having said this, one should be honest and add that corruption and waste are not problems found only in Russia. A further challenge that Russia faces, and that we must take carefully into account, is the current state of the Russian economy. The economy will have to improve - as the Russians hope and plan it will - if our partnership is to flourish. Russia does need to come to terms with the issue of structural reform right across the board. Here, collaboration with the EU can only help, although alone it cannot solve all the problems. The new TACIS programme will be our flagship here. Whilst the EU cannot take on responsibility for Russia s internal problems it can be an aid to a solution, helping, for instance, with reform of the banking and judicial system, more democratisation and more regional development. But first and foremost Russia will have to get a grasp on its own problems. I am confident that the Russian government will recognise this and act accordingly. Then our efforts to engage in partnership will flourish. One of the most important, but least tangible, factors affecting our dealing with Russia is the very attitude of Russians themselves to the West. We must take this into account because it will affect the perception in Russia of everything we do, with them and with others. The perception of decline in Russia s status, the fall in living standards for many people; the new social inequality; all these things have generated a deep resentment against the West on the part of many people. This is perfectly understandable, and I sympathise with the fact that the transformations which Russia in going through is very hard for many ordinary people to accept. It is regrettable that, at the moment, this resentment is expressed in a strong anti-american and maybe anti-nato sentiment. We should be aware that this potential for anti-western sentiment could quickly be turned against the European Union if we are not careful to explain to Russia what we are doing. We need, whatever we do, a really effective sustained information and education programme in Russia explaining what the EU is. Many Russians do not yet fully understand all aspects of the EU, and misunderstanding can lead to great difficulties in a partnership. Now, let me address some issues on our side of the partnership. For we are not perfect and we must admit this and address ourselves to improving. 3

4 Why do we have so many problems? Well, of course, some of the blame can be laid at the Russian side. But not all of it we must accept our fair share. For one thing, we must in future guard against thinking that "we know best what Russia needs". We have limited numbers of specialists who understand how to deal with Russia and it is very difficult, if not downright impossible, for a non specialist to know how best to deal with a Russian situation. In addition, what seems to us to be an obvious course of action may not only not be obvious to a Russian, but it may be completely unworkable in a Russian situation. Some of our well-meaning attempts to help have sometimes made things worse and generated resentment, when of course the opposite was intended. We must show the strength and humility to recognise this and study exactly why and how our own aid attempts in the past have been less than successful. It is not good enough to pour in money to demonstrate "commitment" without evaluating how effectively that money has been used to achieve our goal of helping Russia to transform. Moreover, we need much more political dialogue, to which development I will be fully committed. The importance of the Security Dimension Security must be a major part of our partnership with Russia. This is not just to be expected it is something which is long overdue. It is clear that the EU has a large security role to fulfil. It was very clear to me when I was at NATO. The Atlantic Alliance will stand firm to deal with some aspects of security, but the European Union must develop its capacity to deal with others. It is a long time since security was thought of only in terms of military forces. We all now know that security is far broader today, that it includes economic, environmental, and social issues. Indeed, non-military threats to security loom much larger in the mind of most people everywhere except perhaps in the Balkans. Of course, we cannot escape the fact that security does still and will always include tanks and military issues. Security means hard as well as soft security, and we must not avoid addressing tough defence issues. NATO will be the core of Europe s hard security for many years. As we develop a hard security dimension to the Common Foreign and Security Policy will, of course, be in co-operation and compatibility with NATO. But non-military aspects of security are not a soft option. For these non-military security threats are not adequately dealt with by any of our international institutions. NATO cannot completely deal with them. Although NATO is evolving and takes a wider range of functions, those will hardly cover organised crime, insecure borders, ecological security, ethnic migration and the score of other threats to people living peaceful lives. This is where the European Union must take up the challenge. And nowhere is this going to be more important than in our partnership with Russia. Firstly, there will be real scope for military co-operation with Russia. Despite much successful collaboration between NATO and Russia, and the current excellent working relationship between our soldiers in Kosovo, we need to develop more this aspect. We can and should become involved in helping defence reform in Russia. 4

5 Secondly, there is immense scope to expand the collaboration in non-military security areas, for example in the domaines of Interior and Justice Ministers. Sweden already has some excellent experience in this area dealing with Central Europe, much of this could be directly relevant to working with Russia. The way ahead The common strategy of the European Union for Russia is the first step in the direction of partnership. It is our route map to peaceful and prosperous co-operation in Europe. We must now take active steps to encourage Russia in its turn to push towards us to establish a partnership. The effort must be mutual if it is to be effective. Russia must demonstrate its will to make this effort, otherwise it will be impossible to maintain the effort and investment needed on our side. Here, we must guard against the development in our own establishments of negative attitudes towards Russia. Whilst Russia might find it more difficult to engage in collaboration with the West, there is a parallel tendency in some Western countries towards disengagement from Russia. The more difficult it becomes to get things done in Russia, the less interest and enthusiasm there is to make that extra effort needed to ensure that projects are successful, or to meet the Russians half way in an agreement. We must keep our partnership with Russia in the eye of our own publics and policy elites. The main challenges to our partnership where issues of policy are concerned are threefold: the Balkans the World Trade Organisation (WTO) enlargement of the Union The Balkans and the world trade are current problems of which we are well aware. But enlargement of the European union is a problem yet to hit us. Much greater understanding of the implications of our enlargement for Russia will be needed on both sides. We must help Russia to see EU enlargement not as a threat but as an opportunity. This is something of great importance also to our Central European partners, who greatly appreciate the importance of maintaining a good cooperative relationship with Russia. The challenge of the Common Foreign and Security Policy is to establish partnership with Russia on security issues. One of our most pressing tasks is to find ways to work together on crisis prevention. In the long term we need to build a new European Security Architecture which reflects the interests of all parties. I have in mind here not just the evolution of NATO and the EU, but the new spirit which is animating the UN, and the many tasks that await the attention of the OSCE. It is in the integration of these agencies our future work lies. 5

6 I cannot adequately address the EU partnership with Russia without mentioning Ukraine. The successful development of Ukraine into a viable modern state will perhaps be one of the most influential factors affecting Russia s own development towards democracy and market economy. What the EU does in Ukraine will have an immense impact on Russia. A failure in Ukraine will undermine the progress of democracy and market economy in Russia and set that country back, jeopardising the basis of Russia s entire relationship with the West. Let us not underestimate how important it is to engage with and help Ukraine too, and how much this remains for us to do in this regard. Our work in Russia must be paralleled in Ukraine. Conclusion To sum up, we are at a crucial point in history. What we do in the coming year will have an effect far into the next century. We must be visionary, we must think for the long term, and we must be bold and determined if we are to succeed. But we must also work hard and consistently to implement our grand designs by a multitude of useful practical and concrete projects. It will require a great effort. We must also impress on Russia the need to think long term, to assess dispassionately what is in her national interest, and not to shy from the very difficult task of reform that she still faces. I am confident that Russia will recognise this historic moment and that we can and will build an enduring partnership, to the benefit of our mutual security and prosperity. Thank-you very much 6