Nice, France - A row over US and Russian plans to site
missiles in Europe, the global financial crisis and European Union
diplomacy in Georgia topped the agenda Friday when EU and Russian
leaders met in the French resort of Nice.
'There should be no (missile) deployment in any enclave until we
have discussed the new geo-political terms for pan-European security
... until then, please let's not talk about the deployment of missile
shields,' French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in a double-barrelled
blast at Russia and the US.
Sarkozy currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU.
Ahead of the EU-Russia summit, European attention had focused on a
row over US plans to site a missile-defence system in Poland and the
Czech Republic, and a retaliatory Russian threat to move missiles
into its Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad.
The threat was 'a reaction to the behaviour of individual nations
... which, without consulting anyone, agreed to deploy new systems on
their own territory,' Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Friday.
Sarkozy and Medvedev reacted to the crisis by calling for a summit
of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE),
whose 56 members include the US, Russia and EU states, to discuss a
new and legally-binding security treaty for Europe in June or July.
'I have proposed that we could meet, perhaps in the framework of
the OSCE, in mid-2009 to discuss what could be a future pan-European
security system,' Sarkozy said.
Medvedev initially launched the idea for a new security treaty in
June, but analysts have questioned its credibility, seeing it as an
attempt to weaken NATO.
'Russia wanted to see NATO weakened within the security
architecture and keep US influence out of Europe,' Hans-Henning
Schroeder, head of Russia studies at the SWP German institute for
international politics and security, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur
dpa.
At the summit, Sarkozy also defended his shuttle diplomacy at the
time of the Russian-Georgian war, saying that his critics had had no
idea themselves how to deal with the crisis.
'A number of national leaders said that I shouldn't go to Russia
for peace talks or hold a summit with Russia ... What was the best,
to have a dialogue or to do nothing? I don't regret taking either
decision,' a combative Sarkozy said.
'Agitation in the sea close to the conflict, with trouble
threatened by certain military vessels, and an anti-missile shield
won't be to the benefit of Europe, Russia or anyone else,' he said in
a swipe at US strategies in Georgia and Central Europe.
But he and Medvedev remained at odds over Russia's recognition of
the independence of the breakaway Georgian provinces of South Ossetia
and Abkhazia, a move the EU condemned.
Russia 'recognizes the territorial integrity of Georgia, taken
into account the recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia,' Medvedev
said, adding that that decision was 'irrevocable.'
The EU has not recognized the breakaways 'because we feel strongly
about Georgia's territorial integrity,' Sarkozy said.
However, both men were keen to play down the appearance of a
damaging split ahead of a summit of the world's 20 greatest powers in
Washington on Saturday to discuss the current financial crisis.
'At this, of all times, we don't need extra conflicts or
confrontations, more division or wars. What we need to do is to come
together in a united front,' Sarkozy said.
At Friday's summit, they agreed that the so-called G20 should hold
another meeting early in 2009 to take stock of global reactions to
the financial crisis.
'I am very supportive of the idea of holding a new summit after
Washington without delay. We are ready to communicate with Europe on
these issues in advance,' Medvedev said.
And they also agreed that the EU and Russia should re-open talks
on a wide-ranging strategic treaty which EU leaders froze in protest
at Russia's occupation of Georgia in August.
Medvedev said that he hoped talks would re-start 'in the near
future,' and said that the final treaty 'should be substantive, clear
in structure, and provide a framework for future work.'
Diplomats at the summit said that expert groups would discuss the
treaty on November 21-22, and that the two sides' top negotiators
would meet on December 2.
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