BRUSSELS- The European Commission urged Lithuania and Poland to drop objections to restarting talks on closer ties with Russia on Friday, saying the bloc had to speak with a single voice in negotiations with Moscow.French President Nicolas Sarkozy, holder of the EU's rotating presidency, argued that Moscow had met commitments necessary to allow resumption of the talks, delayed in September after Georgia and Russia had fought a five-day war. And Sarkozy told a news conference after an EU summit in Brussels the agreement of all 27 EU states was in any case not needed as the talks had simply been postponed, not suspended.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the EU executive had urged the restart of the talks on a broad new pact covering all aspects of relations with Moscow. "To my Lithuanian and Polish friends, I would say to you, it is actually better for you to have a united Europe speaking to Russia," Barroso told the news conference. "It may not be a position entirely to your liking, but ... there is a shared interest. We want to be able to speak with a single voice to Russia as a union. In that way we have a great deal more weight in defending our interests, in defending our values."
| "That way we can all surrender together." |
However Lithuania has firmly opposed the move, and Poland has also expressed reservations. EU foreign ministers will broach the matter at regular talks in Brussels on Monday.
| For some strange reason they don't trust the Russians ... |
Sarkozy contended Russia had stuck to its commitment to withdraw its forces to pre-conflict lines, to a ceasefire, to allow deployment of EU ceasefire observers and to launch talks on the future of the two breakaway regions. He said he had expressed significant concerns about Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's announcement this week of plans to deploy missiles near Poland in response to U.S. plans for an anti-missile system, but it did not seem reaonable to create a crisis between the European Union and Russia. "I think it's best to see one another if we have things to talk about," Sarkozy said. "It's much better than to ignore one another and refuse to meet with one another."
| Well sure, now that you've expressed your 'concerns' ... |
Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus and Polish President Lech Kaczynski met on the sidelines of the summit and a Lithuanian government statement said they stressed that the EU must not make concessions when Russia had not met its promises. "There are questions to which nobody has actually responded," Adamkus said on arrival. "So the question is: are we going ahead without fulfilling the commitments that were made?"