I would like to thank my friend and the rapporteur, Mr Valdivielso de Cué, for the wonderful job he has made of mediating and reconciling the various yet justifiable interpretations of the validity of the new instrument for economic cooperation with the New Independent States and Mongolia. It was a difficult job but the competence and tenacity of the rapporteur means that we can approve this measure. The new financial programme for the development of the New Independent States and Mongolia that is replacing TACIS is bringing in mechanisms that are more precise than the previous ones. Partnership and competition between the partner States in gaining funding encourage them to play an active role and they aim to enhance existing professionalism and therefore to create a ruling class which will be based on meritocracy. The need to continuously monitor the implementation of the plans, as laid down in the document, protects the European Union from the blatant attempts at fraud noted in the past, and aims to put in place obvious and thus verifiable initiatives. The choice to undertake visible interventions complies with the condition of emphasising the positive role of the European Union with regard to the wreckage left by communism ten years ago, and puts to the test the effectiveness of the western democratic method with regard to the failed dirigisme of the past. It will be necessary, as anticipated, to carefully consider interventions in the civil, economic and social areas of the various New Independent States and Mongolia using two parameters: the solution of the issue of humanitarian intervention and social and economic marginalisation, without privileges and ranking, and the assessment of strategic civil, economic and social value with the aim of bringing the peoples of the new Independent States and Mongolia closer to the European Union. Therefore, we need to proceed with the interventions in order to create a security framework between, on the one side, the new Independent States, and on the other, the European Union, so that we can establish ever greater peace and stability. An essential demand that the European Union must make is that the new Independent States respect human rights, so that democratic principles and cultural, religious, political and ethnic pluralism will increasingly take root, in order to improve people’s quality of life. The possibility of suspending the intervention in the unhappy event of a crisis occurring is certainly a strong deterrent which will lead the new States and Mongolia to seek a negotiated solution to disputes, thereby turning them into everyday political dialectics. The European Parliament should debate and approve the new instrument that is replacing the TACIS programme, even if currently Russia, the largest of the new States, is the focus of a just European Parliament initiative that has suspended the technological cooperation agreement following the war begun against Chechnya. But the Russia question is not solely about this: it is a large country experiencing an extremely serious political, economic and social crisis and it is preparing for presidential elections. It is a large country undergoing a difficult transition and, in my opinion, it should not be left to its fate nor should it be isolated in punitive terms; instead, it should be helped and reassured by means of a close political and economic relationship, even if the political relationship is dialectic and the economic relationship is competitive. Russia needs a lot of help from the European Union, based on caution, encouragement and when necessary, objections, but without the possibility of breaking off relations, which we actually need to intensify, in areas such as the creation of a new legal-administrative system which will do away with any temptation to behave improperly. It is up to us to create the conditions for peace, cooperation, support, aid and partnership, and we must put the onus on the New Independent States, Mongolia, and above all, Russia, to make sure they deserve our help, by complying with the objective conditions of defending the fundamental principles of citizens and governed communities.

Political group: PPE-DE