16/02/2009

EU-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee. Final Statement and Recommendations


Eleventh Meeting
16-17 February 2009
BRUSSELS
Co-Chairs: Ms. Ria OOMEN-RUIJTEN and Mr. Andrey KLIMOV

 

 

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Final Statement and Recommendations

 

Under the co-chairmanship of Ms Ria OOMEN-RUIJTEN (EPP-ED, the Netherlands) and Mr Andrei KLIMOV (United Russia) the eleventh meeting of the EU-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee was held in Brussels on 16 and 17 February 2009. The Committee exchanged views with Mr Andris PIEBALGS, Member of the European Commission, Ambassador Vladimir CHIZHOV, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the EC, Mrs Hilde HARDEMAN of the European Commission, and Mrs Nadezda HOLIKOVA, Deputy Director, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on behalf of the Czech Presidency-in-office of the Council of the European Union.

 

These discussions focused on

 

- EU-Russia relations and the new partnership and cooperation agreement

- EU-Russia trade relations and the effects of the financial and economic crisis

- EU-Russia gas deals and future gas supplies.

 

The Parliamentary Cooperation Committee (PCC)

 

- Whereas the EU-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee, based on the EU-Russia Partnership and Cooperation agreement of 1994, is the most meaningful frame of regular and direct parliamentary dialogue between the Russian Federation and the European Union, fostering cooperation not only between the parliamentary bodies but promoting at the same time closer cooperation between Russia and the European Union.

 

- Whereas for more than ten years of regular meetings the Committee has  addressed a large spectrum  of issues of internal, bilateral, national, continental, international and global relevance in a constructive and open dialogue and thus strengthened confidence  and efficiency in the partnership between Russia and the European Union.

 

The EU-Russia relations

 

  1. Underlines  that close and strategic partnership, enhanced cooperation and good-neighbourly relations between the European Union (EU) and Russia can create a stable foundation and a precondition for stability, security and prosperity in Europe and world wide;

 

  1. Agrees on the overriding importance that the relations between the European Union and Russia should be based on mutual trust, common aims, interests and common values of democracy, respect of human rights,  including the rights of minorities, and the rule of law, as well as on mutual cooperation in the international arena and a shared interest in a stable and secure neighbourhood;

 

  1. Recognizes the importance of the existing political structures and institutions, which serve as foundations and framework for the EU-Russia relations, notably the OSCE and Council of Europe, and calls for further enhancement of security cooperation;

 

  1. Calls on the partners to respect fully all obligations as members of these organisations and signatories to their conventions, including the respect for the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity and the non-use of military force, the right of association, the right of peaceful demonstration and freedom of the media;

 

  1. Recognizes the interest and willingness of both the Russian Federation and the European Union to cooperate most closely in fighting climate change and in the field of environmental protection;

 

  1. Underlines the importance of EU-Russia cooperation notably for the fight against proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, fight against terrorism, transnational organised crime and corruption;

 

The new Partnership and Cooperation Agreement

 

  1. Calls on the Russian Federation and the European Union to actively pursue the Partnership Negotiations and to make use of this new agreement to bring closer together our peoples and to make best use of the potential of this partnership for real and substantial cooperation;

 

8.      Stresses that the agreement should be comprehensive, legally binding and covering all aspects of the relationship; underlines that the agreement should also bring progress with respect to the harmonisation of regulatory standards and the commitments in relation to democracy, human rights and rule of law;

9.      Specifies that the Four Common Spaces should be among the main focuses of the negotiations on the new agreement;

10.  Sees the main objective of the future strategic agreement in securing a new quality of cooperation between Russia and the EU, providing a legal basis also for those areas of cooperation which are not reflected in the current PCA;

  1. Highlights the important role of the EU-Russia PCC in fostering cooperation between the EU and Russia, and urges reinforcing the role of the PCC in the new agreement;

 

  1. Underlines its interest and willingness to cooperate as closely as possible with the negotiating partners in order to ensure that the new partnership agreement is up to the standards and expectations of the citizens;

 

  1. Reiterates its aim to continue and intensify cooperation in the future in order to come to a united, prosperous and democratic Europe without dividing lines, where the four EU-Russia Common Spaces and principles of the “four freedoms” – movement of goods, services, capital and people – will have been effectively implemented, thus facilitating comprehensive cooperation and people-to-people contacts;

 

14.  Repeats its call on both the EU Member States and on the Russian Federation to fully implement the visa facilitation and readmission agreements between Russia and the EC and to remain ambitious as regards further steps towards full and mutual visa liberalisation, up to a visa-free regime, which requires further progress in the field of extradition, readmission, illegal migration and data protection;

  1. Underlines that the EU-Russia human rights consultations are a particularly important part of the EU-Russia political dialogue and calls for these consultations to be more effective;

 

  1. Shares the concern expressed in Europe over the recent assassinations of human rights defenders, lawyers and journalists and supports further complete and independent investigation of these cases;

 

EU-Russia Energy Relations and the New Agreement

                            

  1. Expresses its deep concern over the recent crisis in gas supplies to the European Union, which left millions of citizens in Bulgaria, Slovakia and elsewhere in the EU without heating and hot water in freezing winter temperatures;

 

  1. Regrets the shortcomings of the existing cooperation, which became evident in the course of this gas supply crisis; takes the view that this crisis has demonstrated that the EU and Russia have to establish mechanisms for a transparent rules based system and dispute settlement in the field of energy to ensure their future trade in energy; both delegations agree on increasing transparency, interdependence and reciprocity in terms of access to markets, infrastructure and investments and enhancing the security of energy supply; referring to the new partnership, the EU expects that the guiding principles of the Energy Charter and the Transit Protocol will be taken up, whereas the Russian side aims to modernise the present Energy Charter;

 

  1. Underlines that it is essential to avert in the future any similar gas disputes between Russia and Ukraine and calls to find a sustainable, long-term solution in ensuring the security of energy supply to the EU market and honouring their bilateral agreements and contractual obligations to the European consumers; in this regard, takes note of the agreement reached between Russia and Ukraine on 18 January 2009 in Moscow, and stresses that it has potential to make the gas trade more stable;

 

  1. Calls upon both the EU and Russia to strengthen the efficiency and crisis response capacity of the EU-Russia energy dialogue, to increase transparency, interdependence and reciprocity and to enhance thus the security of energy supply, transit and demand, and the energy efficiency with a particular view to climate change and environmental protection;

 

  1. Emphasises that the EU and Russia are both interested in diversification of energy supply routes;

 

Effects of Financial and Economic Crisis

 

  1. Emphasises that it is in the interest of both Russia's and the EU's economies to diversify their trade relations as the current share of trade in energy makes their economies vulnerable; calls on the development of trade and economic relations between the EU and Russia as a priority and strategy, based on current positive experience of cooperation, principles of mutually beneficial international integration and supplement of effective development of our economies;

 

  1. Points at the necessity of efforts of coordination in overcoming world financial and economic crisis and minimization of our economies losses; 

 

  1. Emphasises the necessity of stabilising the world financial system and pursuing reforms that will decrease risks of future instability and crises, strengthening the regulation of national and international institutions responsible for financial governance, increasing responsibility of credit rating agencies and enhancing the transparency of international financial markets;

 

  1. Calls for the removal of the obstacles for Russia’s accession to the WTO, whereupon the EU and Russia will be able to start the negotiations on an agreement on trade and economic cooperation, including the possibility of forming a free trade area;

 

  1. Promotes enterprise cooperation in the sphere of processing, hi-tech industry, innovations, development of energy-saving and environmentally appropriate technologies; 

 

  1. Stresses the necessity for Russia and the EU to uphold principles of market economy, fair business competition, the rule of law and transparent rules;

 

  1. Calls on leaders in the EU and Russia to reinforce their efforts for free trade as protectionist measures would only further aggravate the crisis.