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Friday, 26.10.2007
EU Commission: Russia could become hostile to Europe
Moscow/Berlin. Russia could drift away from the EU, says an internal EU memorandum on the eve of the EU-Russia summit in Portugal, if the relationship is not redefined.
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The upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections in Russia will “lead to a more assertive foreign policy, tougher domestic policies and heightened rhetoric” says the memorandum, according to the Financial Times, that said the paper was “highly confidential”.
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The FT’s description of and comment on the memorandum even mentions the memorandum discusses Russia becoming an “opponent” of Europe and that it is implementing an “increasingly aggressive foreign policy.”
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That is, however, an extrapolation that does not follow from what is cited of the Portugese memorandum.
The EU has to treat Moscow with “more realism than was previously the case,” says the memorandum. Vladimir Putin’s “aggressive course” is worrying Europe’s top politicians.
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The FT then adds off its own bat that Russia in the future will be characterised by a “pseudo-democracy domestically” and “tough pursuit of national interest”.
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In actual fact, however, the EU memorandum emphasises the degree of interdependency.
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The document, as even the Financial Times deigns to mentions, emphasises the deep interdependence of Russia and Europe.
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“70% of foreign direct investment comes from the EU, and Russia is increasingly investing in EU companies,” it says. Russia’s stability is absolutely crucial to Europe’s, states the memorandum.
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It is not about “opposition”, but about the “risk of drifting apart“
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While the FT’s comment conjures up the spook of so-called Russian “energy imperialism”, the EU memorandum does not describe any real existing confrontation, but rather the risk of one potential path of development:
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"There exists a risk that Russia will drift away from Europe and the European social and political development and its approach to the world."
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Political polemics instead of concern for EU foreign policy
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The FT’s editorial distorts the memorandum’s contents by puts all the emphasis on confrontation and polemics. Unfortunately such polemics is just as much “heightened rhetoric“ as anything the Kremlin comes out with.
by Gisbert Mrozek, Moscow (gim/.rufo/Moskau)
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