Д.Медведев.Совместная пресс-конференция.27.06.08.Part 1

Joint Press Conference following the Russia-European Union Summit.Part 1
June 27, 2008
Khanty-Mansiysk

Совместная пресс-конференция с Генеральным секретарём Совета Евросоюза Хавьером Соланой, Председателем Комиссии Европейских сообществ Жозе Мануэлом Дурау-Баррозу и Председателем правительства Словении, Председателем Совета Евросоюза Янезом Яншей по итогам саммита Россия Евросоюз
27 июня 2008 года
Ханты-Мансийск

PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA DMITRY MEDVEDEV: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, colleagues,

I would like to start by thanking my colleagues, Mr Jansa, as President of the European Council, for all the work he has put into organising this summit, and Mr Barroso and Mr Solana for their constructive and comradely cooperation during the preparations and the holding of this summit.

Now I would like to inform you of the main results of this, the twenty-first Russia-EU summit.

One of the most important subjects we have been actively discussing of late was that of concluding a new basic agreement between Russia and the EU. Today we officially announce the start of full-scale negotiations to draft a new agreement, taking into account, of course, the European Unions need to complete a number of internal procedures.

The future agreement will be an instrument for genuine rapprochement between Russia and the European Union. It should be built on the principles of equality, pragmatism, mutual respect for each others interests and, of course, common approaches to key security issues. It will lay the long-term foundation for the strategic partnership between Russia and the European Union.

The first round of talks will take place in Brussels on July 4. Today we reaffirmed that the positions agreed upon in Sochi in May 2006 remain unchanged.

The new agreement will be a fairly brief framework document without excessive detail. It will emphasise the strategic nature of our relations. It will be complemented by a system of agreements covering individual sectors.

We also examined a whole number of other important issues concerning our cooperation and our relations, above all the state of progress in implementing the roadmaps for the four common spaces: as you know, these roadmaps have become the main mechanism for cooperation between Russia and the EU and have proven their effectiveness.

These roadmaps, which were adopted in 2005, remain important documents for us in the medium term. They form the foundation upon which we will build relations between Russia and the EU, and the positive experience we have accumulated will be taken into account in work on the new basic agreement.

Overall, we assess positively the progress made on the roadmap for the common economic space. Its implementation has made it possible to develop the dialogue between Russian ministries and agencies in different sectors and the relevant general directorates in the European Commission.

The roadmap for the common internal security space opens up new opportunities for simplifying visa rules. I think that the most important thing at the moment is to outline the timetable and specific steps that will bring us closer to our ultimate goal of introducing visa-free travel.

The first meeting in May of the sector-based Permanent Partnership Council gave a big boost to work in such important areas today as science and technology. The Joint Declaration adopted by the meeting lays the foundation for launching new research projects and programmes.

Today we also discussed the problems and difficulties in our relations. A worrying trend in our view is the transformation of EU solidarity into an instrument for resolving the bilateral problems of individual EU member countries.

We continue to be concerned about the situation with the rights of our compatriots in Latvia and Estonia. We consider the soft line taken towards attempts to make heroes of Nazi collaborators and revise pages in Europes twentieth-century history unacceptable. We discussed this and met with full understanding on these issues.

We are worried in general by the tendency to take a selective approach to our common history. We should not forget that Europes prosperity and in some cases the very existence of individual countries were made possible only through the enormous sacrifices of the peoples of the Soviet Union and other European peoples. In this respect, the victory over Nazism is our common moral and spiritual heritage and we consider completely unacceptable any attempts to desecrate the memory of this victory and the good name of the hero-liberators.

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