Debate: Direction of EU-Russia political relations
Date: TUESDAY, 14 SEPTEMBER 2021
Speaker: Josep Borrell Fontelles
Language: EN

I think that the report describes accurately where we stand in our relations with Russia, which are more difficult than ever, building on the Joint Communication and the June conclusions of the European Council, although the debate in the European Council was mostly about ‘summit yes or summit no’ in the relationship with Russia.  I think that the deliberate policy choices of the Russian Government over the last years have been creating a negative spiral in our relations. The list of provocative actions by Russia is long and continues feeding a dynamic of escalation, which I regret because I have always been in favour of talking with everybody when we need to talk. It has become difficult and I have experienced that directly. Our discussion today is very timely because next week we are going to have next week the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, and it may be an occasion to engage again in talks with the Russian representative.  There is also the issue of the crackdown on Russian civil society and opposition. Ahead of this month’s Duma election, some of the priority actions that you identified in your report – support for civil society and their relentless efforts to defend democracy – remain as important as ever. The Russian regime is one thing but the Russian people are another thing, and we have to be with the Russian people, supporting their civil society.  On that, allow me to say that our unity should be our biggest asset in our relations with Russia because it’s clear that Russia wants to divide us. They say that clearly, they don’t care about European Union. They prefer to avoid it. They want to talk with a Member State directly and not with all of them, only with the ones that matter. So yes, certainly Russia wants to divide us and, in the face of any attempt to divide us, what we have to do is try to remain united, which is, believe me, not always easy.  In any case, Russia remains our largest neighbour and it remains an important global actor, although not from the economic point of view. Russia’s economy is more or less the same size as Italy’s, much bigger in surface area, but economically speaking, it is a medium—sized state. They have a lot of gas – and gas is becoming more and more expensive, which is good news for them and bad news for us – they have atomic weapons and they have an important army, and they use it when they need it. But, in any case, Russia will not disappear. It will be there and it’s not going to change overnight. So we should explore a path that helps us gradually to change the current dynamics into a less conflictual, more predictable and stable relationship. This is the work of diplomacy – with whoever – to try to work for a less conflictual, more predictable and stable relationship on the issues in which we are interested. Let’s talk about Mr Navalny. I know that I went to Russia to express directly, in front of the Russian leadership, our concern about the situation of Aleksei Navalny when he was in front of the tribunal that condemned him, and since the assassination attempt on Mr Navalny we have held a number of discussions in the European Parliament, the Foreign Affairs Council and the European Council, but Mr Navalny remains in jail. So our collective ambition is not only to have a less conflictual relationship, but also to continue defending people like Navalny. Don’t forget him. Don’t forget the people who have been supporting him.  This has to be done by building on the implementation of the five principles which have given us purpose, an approach in which our interests and values can be defended. I want to remark here that the June conclusions of the Council are very clear, including the full implementation of the Minsk Agreement. In some days, we will go to Kiev to have the Association Agreement Council with Ukraine.  I would like to think of a new partnership with Russia but today it’s a distant prospect. Under the present circumstances, to take the full potential of a close cooperation with Russia is not on the radar screen. It’s a distant prospect. We must therefore look at the state of EU—Russia relations in all their complexities and at a realistic way forward. With this in mind, the European Council tasked me, as High Representative, and the Commission to prepare concrete proposals on how to take forward this multifaceted relationship, and we try to resume that with these verbs – three verbs that were mentioned by the rapporteur – to push back, to constrain and to engage.  I think these three verbs summarise well how we have to develop our relationship with Russia. To present options for additional restrictive measures, to develop options for engagement on areas such as climate, environment, selected issues of foreign and security policy, and multilateral issues like the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), where I have to recognise that Russia is playing a constructive role on Syria and Libya.  The Russians are very much present in Libya and more and more in the Central African Republic, which is worrisome.  To this list we should add Afghanistan, where there is a need for increased cooperation, including as regards the regional approach after the takeover by the Taliban and its consequences for regional and international security allies. Russia will also be affected by the new situation in Afghanistan and is not going to be in a safe land with respect to the risk of widespread terrorism in the area.  Finally, we have to put forward people-to-people contacts and support civil society, human rights organisations and independent media. Such a thing exists in Russia, and we need to support them.  As you also rightly point out in your report, our reinforced cooperation with our Eastern partners and support for democracy remains at the top of the European Union’s interests. We cannot be an island of democracy in a world of autocracies. We cannot survive as a democracy if we are surrounded and in the middle of a world that has a different political system. It is in our interests that our system be shared by as many people and as many countries as possible. That’s what my services are trying to put forward. We are working on that and we stand ready to brief the European Parliament, the committees of the European Parliament, on all these issues.  So thank you very much for your work. Thank you very much for this report. This is a complementary work with one that we are doing. I thank the rapporteur and all the Members that have been working with you on it.