1.

Addresses the following recommendations to the Council and the Commission and asks them to take them into account when pursuing the negotiations: (a) continue to insist on a broad, wide-ranging and legally binding agreement based on a shared commitment to human rights, covering the whole range of cooperation between the parties and representing a step up from the current PCA, both in terms of the depth of the commitments and the subjects covered; insist that the agreement should comprise enforcement mechanisms for its relevant parts; (b) insist on the fact that the violation by Russia of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia and its role in the gas dispute at the beginning of 2009 have seriously endangered relations between the EU and Russia and the negotiations on the new agreement; (c) insist that the EU’s relationship with Russia must be based on respect for the rule of international law and all binding agreements and treaties to which Russia and EU Member States adhere, including the UN Charter, the ECHR and the ECT, as well as the rules and commitments incumbent on members of the OSCE and Council of Europe; (d) insist on the fact that a close partnership, enhanced cooperation and good neighbourly relations between the European Union and Russia, as well as the new policy of the US administration towards Russia, can create a stable foundation and a precondition for stability, security and prosperity in Europe and worldwide; in this framework, welcome the declarations of the US administration concerning the great potential for cooperation with Russia; (e) put in place a consultation mechanism, under the responsibility of the High Representative, which would enable Member States to consult each other sufficiently in advance on every bilateral issue – whether an agreement or a dispute – with Russia which could have repercussions on other Member States and the EU as a whole, thereby allowing for the adoption by the EU of a position which is as coherent as possible by ensuring that the concerns of every Member State are fully taken into account and preventing any one Member State from blocking the negotiations at a later stage; (f) insist on reinforcing the role of the Parliamentary Cooperation Committee in the new agreement, so as to strengthen the parliamentary dimension of the cooperation between the EU and Russia; (g) reiterate the commitments agreed upon at international level by both the EU Member States and Russia, notably as members of the Council of Europe and the OSCE, and raise with the Russian Government concerns about the human rights situation and the shrinking space for Russia’s civil society, urging it to uphold freedom of expression and association by bringing legislation regulating civil society into line with Russia’s European and international commitments, to take prompt and effective steps to foster a favourable working climate for human rights organisations and independent charitable organisations engaged in the promotion of cultural links between Russia and EU Member States, and to stop intimidation and harassment of human rights defenders and refrain from harsh administrative measures against those organisations; (h) call on the Russian Government to fully respect media freedom and guarantee the enjoyment by independent media of political and economic conditions enabling them to function normally; urge the Russian Government to put an end to the continuous violence and persecution perpetrated against journalists; (i) recall President Medvedev’s public commitment to strengthening the rule of law in Russia and raise concerns over the independence of Russia’s judiciary and legal system; (j) take the view that the regular six-monthly EU-Russia human rights consultation has failed to produce any tangible results since its establishment in 2005 and needs to be revised, in order to allow for a substantial and result-oriented dialogue on human and minority rights issues in both Russia and the EU and on EU-Russian cooperation on human rights issues in international forums; (k) insist, therefore, on a thorough overhaul of the EU-Russia human rights consultations, including the creation of a formal role for independent NGOs from Russia and the EU, the involvement of officials from all relevant departments of the Russian Government and an end to the issuing of separate communiqués by the Russian Government; (l) appeal to the authorities of the Russian Federation to guarantee the existence and sustainable development of the traditional lifestyle, culture and language of indigenous people living within its borders; (m) urge the Russian Government to implement fully the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, providing an opportunity to promote accountability for past abuses and ensure an end to ongoing violations; (n) express strong concern at the situation in Chechnya, where Kadirov’s regime has failed to bring peace and reconciliation and on the contrary has imposed fear and oppression that eroded civil society and suppressed any open and democratic voice, and call for a real political settlement; (o) stress that the programme for the support of Russian compatriots, supported by the Russian authorities, should not be misused as an instrument aimed at reinforcing political influence in certain EU Member States; (p) continue to maintain support for Russia’s accession to the WTO and support the further opening-up of the Russian economy; regard full compliance by Russia with the WTO rules as a necessary precondition and a minimum standard for the creation of a free-trade zone between the EU and Russia, which continues to be a long-term objective; (q) while welcoming the recent changes, call for further improvements to be made in legislation and law enforcement as regards the protection of intellectual, industrial and commercial property rights in order to increase competitiveness and make the investment climate attractive by approximating regulatory systems with the highest international standards and norms; urge the Russian authorities, ahead of and preceding Russia’s forthcoming membership of the WTO, to align Part IV of Russia’s Civil Code on Intellectual Property Rights and relevant procedural enforcement rules with WTO rules and international agreements, particularly the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), and to ensure full implementation thereof, so that counterfeiting and piracy can be effectively combated; (r) insist that the ECT, as an existing treaty which is legally binding on Russia and all EU Member States, should be the basis for relations in the field of energy and that the principles of the ECT and the Transit Protocol thereto should be incorporated in the new agreement, while reiterating its call on Russia to strengthen its commitment to a rules-based approach by ratifying the ECT and signing and ratifying the Transit Protocol, bearing in mind Parliament’s opinion that the partners should be free to negotiate wording that goes beyond that of the ECT, as to the depth of cooperation and the areas covered by it, but that the agreement should in no circumstances be less comprehensive than that already subscribed to by the parties within the framework of the current PCA; (s) within the framework of the negotiations for the new agreement, finalise negotiations on the Transit Protocol and call on Russia to sign it in order to put in place a legal framework governing the transit of energy supplies between the parties which follows on from that already in place under the ECT; (t) underline the need for proper environmental impact assessments for all energy-related infrastructure projects, in order to guarantee that international standards of environmental protection are met; in this regard, urge the Russian Federation to ratify the Espoo Convention and the protocol thereto on Strategic Environmental Assessment; (u) call for a strengthening of the efficiency and crisis-response capacity of the EU-Russia energy dialogue, for increased transparency, reciprocity and security of investment and for a consequent enhancement of security of energy supply, and underline the need to establish mechanisms for a transparent rules-based system and dispute-settlement mechanism in the field of energy; (v) draw attention to the dispute-settlement mechanism contained in the ECT, already signed by Russia and Ukraine; (w) establish a clear code of conduct governing relations between the EU, Russia and the countries of the shared neighbourhood, including provisions relating to respect for the sovereign independence of all European states, a commitment to the peaceful settlement of disputes and a determination to resolve frozen conflicts; (x) upgrade the existing political dialogue so as to encourage discussion of ‘hard security issues’, which are often at the core of the disagreements between the EU and Russia but which indubitably affect European and global security, stressing the need for multilateral arms control and reduction, as well as for non-proliferation regimes; (y) call on the Russian Government to make – together with the EU and the other members of the Contact Group for Kosovo – a positive contribution to finding a sustainable political solution for the future of Kosovo and for the further enhancement of the stability of the Western Balkans; (z) call on the Russian Government to demonstrate its commitment to resolving in a constructive and peaceful manner, together with Georgia and the EU, the ‘modalities of security and stability in Abkhazia and South Ossetia’ as agreed in the agreement of 12 August 2008; call on the Russian Government to provide tangible assurances that Russia will not resort to the use of force against any of its neighbours; (aa) raise concerns with the Russian Government regarding its decision to recognise Abkhazia and South Ossetia as sovereign states, to sign military-assistance and cooperation agreements with the de facto authorities of those two Georgian provinces and to establish military bases there, since these steps undermine the territorial integrity of Georgia as insisted upon by the relevant UN resolutions; call on Russia once again to reverse its decision and maintain that Russia cannot be regarded as an impartial moderator in the peace process; urge the Russian Government to ensure that EU monitors are granted full access to all areas affected by the conflict, in compliance with the mandate of the EU Monitoring Mission; (ab) insist that the goal of visa-free travel vis-à-vis Russia be pursued in the light of Council Regulation (EC) No 539/2001 (17), which states that exemption from a visa requirement should be subject to a considered assessment of a variety of criteria relating inter alia to illegal immigration, public policy and security and the EU’s external relations with third countries, consideration being also given to the implications of regional coherence and reciprocity, bearing in mind that relations between the EU and white-listed third countries are typified by a special political dimension requiring those third countries to attain an appropriate level in terms of democratic values and fundamental rights; (ac) insist that visa facilitation for students, researchers and businessmen should be a priority in order to promote people-to-people contacts; insist, however, that any further liberalisation of the visa regime vis-à-vis Russia will be conditional on a corresponding liberalisation of the visa arrangements vis-à-vis European Neighbourhood Policy countries, in order to avoid any discrepancies; (ad) in accordance with the EU-Russia agreement on facilitation of short-stay visas, request from the Russian authorities a clear commitment to reduce bureaucratic obstacles applied in a non-reciprocal manner with respect to all travellers, such as the need to have an invitation and to register upon arrival; bear in mind that the changes made in Russian visa rules in recent years and its ceasing to issue multiple-entry business visas may have negative consequences on business and commercial links between the EU and Russia; also bear in mind Parliament’s view that facilitated travel for Russian passport holders should be limited to Russian residents only; (ae) urgently address the Kaliningrad transit and visa problem, possibly by providing for the whole of the Kaliningrad Oblast to be covered by the local border traffic regime; (af) insist that the EU-Russia relationship be based on the principles of liberalised and open markets and reciprocity of investment rights between the partners, and therefore demand that, in exchange for close and beneficial economic ties, the Russian Government guarantee the property rights of foreign investors and review the 2008 Strategic Sectors Law, which gives the Russian State broad discretion to discriminate against foreign investors, by contrast to the EU internal market which is freely open to Russian investors; demand that the law on investment in strategic sectors must be compatible with Russia’s current and future obligations under the WTO as well as the current PCA; (ag) within the framework of the ongoing WTO accession negotiations, call on the Russian authorities not to suspend certain already negotiated and agreed commitments and to fully respect the 2004 EU-Russia agreement on WTO accession by eliminating all discriminatory charges, in particular for railway cargo, as well as to abolish export duties on untreated timber; (ah) call on Russia to honour its commitment to phase out Siberian overflight payments and to sign the agreement reached on this issue at the summit in Samara; (ai) address with the Russian Government its plans to develop free trade agreements with certain countries, which may affect the creation of a common economic space with Russia; (aj) address a number of shipping-related concerns with the Russian Government, including free passage through the Pilawa strait, access for EU shipping to the passage to Asia along the Northern Russian territory, and the potential environmental hazards resulting from, inter alia, the growth of tanker traffic in the Baltic Sea; (ak) address with the Russian Government the issue of congestion on the EU common border, which remains a serious obstacle to EU-Russia trade and economic relations; (al) ask the Russian Federation to cooperate constructively with the EU with a view to resolving the status of break-away territories, including Transnistria, and to contribute to the strengthening of the sovereignty of the Moldovan Government, as a sine qua non for the stability of a key border region of the EU; stress that progress on this issue hinges upon the withdrawal of the Russian troops stationed inside Moldova, as pledged by Russia inter alia at the 1999 OSCE Istanbul Summit; (am) while recognising the positive aspects of the intensification of scientific cooperation between EU and Russia, call for further comprehensive analyses of the (security-related) impacts of Russia’s possible association with the Seventh Framework Programme; (an) develop informal guidelines as to how the principles of solidarity and mutual accountability could underpin EU-Russia relations, with the aim of developing a more united and consistent policy vis-à-vis Russia;