Commissioner Patten's declaration on Chechnya

Declarations as regards the EU-Russia Summit and the situation in Chechnya

Perhaps I can just add one word on an issue which was raised yesterday during our Summit Meeting, that is the situation in Chechnya. I only do this because it shows what an amateur I am even at 58 because I still allow myself to be provoked by newspaper reports in which I think people get things badly wrong.

They suggested yesterday that because we were very much focused on getting an agreement on Kaliningrad we didn't address the question of human rights in Chechnya and the very very difficult situation in Chechyna. I have now been to seven Summit meetings between the EU and Russia, out of the ten which have been held so far.

I have to say that no Presidency in my experience in the previous six meetings has raised Chechyna as comprehensively and as vigorously as the Danish Prime Minister did yesterday. This is a statement of fact - we had an extremely vigorous exchange.

There wasn't, I have to say, a meeting of minds but the suggestion that this Presidency had not raised the issue on behalf of the European Union or had not raised it sufficiently vigorously is the exact reverse of the truth. I repeat, I have not been to a meeting with our Russian counterparts at this level, at which the subject has been raised in a more informed or more prolonged and comprehensive way than it was yesterday.

There is also a suggestion that we have been too weak in raising the concerns of humanitarian organizations about the way they can act in Chechnya and in Ingushetia. Again, this is completely wrong: we raised the issue most recently at the EU Russia Cooperation Committee and I raised it in Moscow with Mr. Ivanov at the EU Troika Ministerial meeting with the Russians a few weeks ago (17 October). We have concerns about the access of humanitarian organizations in Chechnya and their difficulty in using the UN telecommunications frequency, as well as concerns about their ability to deliver the sort of assistance in Ingushetia by means of temporary housing that is required. We equally have concerns about the security of individual members of humanitarian organizations.

We continue to raise those issues and to raise them vigorously while of course at the same time deploring terrorist activities especially the sort of activities which recently caused so much loss of life in Moscow.

The fact that you have an important strategic relationship with another country, the fact that you are trying to sort out problems with another country should not ever in my view stop you raising questions which that country may find difficult or sensitive.

And certainly I would commend the Danish Presidency for the vigor and intelligence with which they have raised concerns about Chechnya while condemning out of hand terrorism.

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