Libération     

L'Union Européenne concernée par la Tchétchénie. 10 novembre

Emetteur : Les Verts Européens - Alliance Libre Européenne

Berlusconi is not free to ignore the Parliament

Green reacted strongly to Silvio Berlusconi's defence of Russian actions in the province of Chechnya. Reminding the Italian Prime Minister and current President of the Council of the EU of numerous European Parliament resolutions on Chechnya, the Green/EFA Group demanded that the Presidency should properly represent the EU and its concerns, rather than indulging in off-the-cuff defences of human rights abusers.

Bart Staes, Chairman of the European Parliament's Delegation to Russia, said:

"The European Parliament accepted the conclusions of the delegation to Russia that I was part of in June this year, endorsing a resolution that: "firmly condemned the persistent and recurring mass violations of humanitarian law and human rights Russian forces committed against the Chechnyan civilian population." We MEPs agreed that the Russian actions constituted war crimes and crimes against humanity. And yet the President of the Council took it upon himself yesterday to maintain that Russia was acting legitimately in defending itself against terrorists. This is an outrageous position for somebody representing the EU to take."

Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Co-President of the Green/EFA Group, said:

"Prime Minister Berlusconi is absolutely free to ignore his political rivals, disregard the opinions of NGOs and accuse the Italian and International media of being biased. But as President of the Council he is not free to entirely disregard the considered opinions of the European institutions. Despite all of our work on this issue Chechnya was not even mentioned during the summit " it only came up at the disastrous press conference afterwards."

Monica Frassoni, Co-President of the Green/EFA Group, said:

"Members of the Parliament have called on the Council and the Member States to raise the issue of Chechnya at their meetings with the Russian Federation in order to make sure that this area does not: "escape international attention and care." Prime Minister Berlusconi's scandalous remarks yesterday are certainly one way of ensuring international attention, but for all the wrong reasons. Berlusconi's inappropriate outbursts may be considered a joke by some, but the dire situation in Chechnya is nothing to joke about."

(Communiqué transmis par News Press 2002)

10 November 2003

Russia, France boost ties

Despite disagreements over the Chechen problem and the YUKOS case,French President Jacques Chirac stressed the importance ofRussian-French cooperation by personally accompanying his Russiancounterpart Vladimir Putin to the airport, the French newspaper LeFigaro reports. This is a rare courtesy on the part of the FrenchPresident, the newspaper notes.

During the talks, which lasted more than two hours, the two leadersdiscussed international security issues, in particular, the Iranproblem, Iraqi issues and the situation in the Middle East. Russian-EUrelations were also discussed, in the light of the recent summit, LeFigaro says.

It is unclear whether the Chechen issue was also addressed at themeeting. This might have been the source of disagreements, given thatFrance is for a political solution to the problem, the newspaperreports. However, these disagreements did not hamper the development ofRussian-French cooperation, which was confirmed by the signing of anagreement on launching Russia’s Soyuz rockets from the French launchsite of Kourou.

Russia and France signed an agreement on the launch of Soyuz rocketsfrom Kourou in French Guiana, owned by the European Space Agency.According to AFP, the agreement was signed by French Prime MinisterJean-Pierre.

Raffarin and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Boris Alyoshin. The agreementenvisages the construction of a new launch pad in Kourou, estimated at$314m. The first launch of a Soyuz rocket is scheduled for early 2006.

Launching Soyuz rockets from Kourou is economically more attractivecompared with the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan, as Kourou is notfar from the Equator, in the north-east of South America, officials inthe Rosaviakosmos space agency say.

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