---EU Sees Russia Backsliding on Democracy
Tue Oct 5, 9:07 AM ET Top Stories - Reuters
By Sebastian Alison
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Russia is backsliding on democracy and the EU must take Moscow to task while bringing other former Soviet republics closer to the West, the bloc's incoming External Relations Commissioner said on Tuesday.
"It's quite obvious, let me be quite clear on that, that we are seeing a backsliding in democracy in Russia at the moment," Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the outgoing Austrian foreign minister, told a confirmation hearing in the European Parliament.
"We need to speak frankly, and you know what that means in diplomatic jargon, with each other about this, but also as equal partners," she said. Ferrero-Waldner insisted she would press Russia on human rights, saying that even in the aftermath of the school siege in the southern town of Beslan in which more than 300 people died, there was no excuse for reverses in basic rights.
"Human rights have always to be defended, also when it comes to combating terrorism, and it's up to us to say this and to shout this from the rooftops," she said.
She also said the European Union (news - web sites) should promote its European Neighborhood Policy, designed to boost ties with states that became its neighbors after its eastward enlargement in May.
"I will do everything in my powers to keep Ukraine on our side at least," she said, adding that it would be more difficult to work with Belarus, an authoritarian state which shared few of the EU's values on democracy, freedom and human rights.
"There is such a chance to move forward and to bring those countries that are ringing the enlarged European Union toward us more closely," she told the hearing.
"Of course that means that we bring them our common values and they, in the end, will be able to share a stake in our internal market. So it is a give and take."
TOUGH TALK
Ferrero-Waldner, who will run the executive EU Commission's big foreign assistance budget and staff, was outlining her priorities for the five-year term of the incoming team which takes office on Nov. 1.
However, EU
foreign policy chief Javier Solana is due to take over her role when he becomes the bloc's first foreign minister once a constitution agreed in June is ratified. The target date is January 2007, subject to uncertain referendums in several member states.
Ferrero-Waldner said she had discussed Russia's war against separatist rebels in the southern republic of Chechnya (news - web sites) with President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites).
She vowed to hold tough talks with Russia while keeping dialogue alive, saying the EU held just such negotiations with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in New York last month.
"This is exactly what we have to do," she said. "But tough talk is also dialogue for me. As long as we speak to each other we can have a dialogue," she said.
Ferrero-Waldner said she favored the EU having a single seat on a reformed U.N. Security Council to boost its weight in world affairs.
"If you really want the EU to be recognized as an international player on an equal footing with other international players, then that is necessary," she said. ---
On a side note:
My dad was in Russia over the Summer visiting his uncle, and he said that democracy is not working. He mentioned that a lot of the Russian people want it to go back to Communism, because at least with Communism they had food on their tables. My dad mentioned that only the rich are getting by, and the poor are suffering and barely have enough to eat. Kids and mothers are on every street corner beging for change. The Russian Mob has as much pull as the police, and corruption is everywhere.
My great Uncle was in the hospital for a week, and when he came home, everything was gone: his furniture, food, clothes, everything. This is what the commoners in Russia have turned to: stealing to survive.
If I recall right, Russia still has one of the biggest armies in the world. It would not surprise me if in the next 10 years Russia tries to reform the USSR and becomes the powerhouse that it once was. Think about it: If Russia starts going back to Communism and taking back the land from the tiny countries around them, do you think the US would react? They'd be quite the foe. We are alos spread so thin right now fighting Iraq, and only God knows how long that will last...
Just my thoughts...
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