The enlargement of the European Union places the countries of the Northern Dimension in a very special and much changed position. Everyone is expecting a great deal from this – including strong economic development in particular. The greater mutual openness shows that there are extremely attractive prospects for cooperation in the economic, ecological and social fields. If we are to benefit from this we will have to change our attitude towards Russia. It has already changed, fortunately, but it was not just a matter of course. Despite some worrying signals from Russia regarding parliamentary democracy, the acceptance of non-indigenous religions and in particular the continuing war in Chechnya, we must still have a positive attitude towards Russia. The politics of the Northern Dimension is therefore part of our two-track policy. A policy that does not withhold criticism, however severe it may be, but one that also sounds out and exploits constructive ideas. It is very important to implement the various forms of policy in the action plan. The European Union’s attitude will then be very balanced and multi-faceted, which will also be good for the development of neighbouring regions. The way in which this is done is also naturally of great importance, and this is also mostly of a political and cultural nature. Market participants as well as social organisations, for example, will have to play a major role. Political integration must always go hand in hand with social integration; this may entail a large number of independent organisations. The action plan may therefore also be relevant to the social democratisation of the territories in question – with Russia first. The Danish Presidency made great efforts with regard to the Northern Dimension issue. Coming from a southern northern country, I appreciate this very much. We are assuming that Greece will also feel a sense of responsibility towards the Northern Dimension. The focus must be on the exploitation of energy sources, the transportation of energy, possibly including to the European Union, and nuclear waste. The delegation to the Russian Duma recently went to the north, where we found out about the serious problems caused by nuclear waste. The European Union is one of the major donors, possibly the biggest in fact, but cleaning up is taking place pretty slowly there. They are not able to dismantle more than a small number of nuclear submarines each year. It is very important for all of us that this is speeded up. The territory there in the north is extremely vulnerable, and we will have to accept our responsibility, particularly with regard to Norway and other countries with interests there. It is a very good thing – for the people who live there as well – that solutions are also being found for waste water, particularly in St. Petersburg and Kaliningrad. In order to make it clear that we are concerned about people, we must also make sure that social questions linked to public health and the like are not forgotten. We have seen that there are already numerous councils and forums dealing with the Northern Dimension. I must therefore express the hope that their activities will be appropriately coordinated so that they do not overlap too much and hamper one another. A budget line for the Northern Dimension has also already been discussed. I understand that there are technical problems involved in setting up a budget line of this kind and I would like to know what the Commissioner thinks about this.

Political group: PPE-DE