Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, my group thinks it is important that we have a programme of extended and comprehensive cooperation with Russia. Now we are starting to reap the rewards of bringing down the Iron Curtain. Now too conditions in Russia are stabilising, except with regard to certain aspects, which I shall return to. This being the case, we are in favour of establishing a Common European Economic Space. It will be an important step on the path we are developing towards normal relations with Russia. The Union has said Russia is a normal market economy. That is saying quite a lot, perhaps, although Russia is on the right track and this is consequently a step towards accession to the World Trade Organisation. We have to remember that one consequence of enlargement is that the border between Russia and the Union will lengthen and that is very significant. Russia will lose its markets to some extent in those countries joining the EU, and that is something we also have to take into consideration to some extent. I am pleased that the heated controversy over Kaliningrad was resolved at the summit. I do not think this was perhaps the major problem it sometimes appeared to be in the debate. We are also responsible for developments with regard to Kaliningrad, and I agree with Mr Poettering that we have to be able to provide help and assistance and work together to improve conditions for the people who live there. We are of the opinion that the war in Chechnya is a problem for Russia, for us and for the Chechen people, who are at the centre of the war. We believe that human rights must not be violated under the pretence of the fight against terrorism. This has to do with Russia and it also has to do with other countries that we have been praising here or which are perhaps our older allies. The fight against terrorism has become an umbrella that allows violent actions to be carried out by countries against their own and other citizens. This must not be allowed to happen. The question of Chechnya is being raised because we have a delegation leaving for Chechnya, and I am its chairman. There has been a development regarding this in that today, after lengthy negotiations, I received a letter from Dmitri Rogozin of the State Duma, inviting us to go there on 20 January. It had been suggested that we should go in late December, but that is Christmas and we asked if the visit could be rescheduled. This being the case, January seems a good time to go, if the members of my delegation agree: all this has happened so very recently. Russia is a big partner for us. Trade between us is worth approximately 25 billion dollars a year, while the figure for the United States of America is just 3 billion and for the former countries of the Soviet Union only just over 10 billion dollars. We are thus a giant trading partner of Russia. I should therefore like to ask the Commissioner in what state the energy dialogue can be in if all of a sudden Gazprom decides on a gas pipeline – coolly decides to build a gas pipeline. The energy dialogue between us has not been very visible in this project. We are the world’s largest energy area, and the energy issue is therefore very important. I should furthermore like to mention the state of the press in Karelia and elsewhere too in Russia, where there are pressures that are simply not acceptable.

Political group: PSE