Federica Mogherini, Italy’s
foreign minister who is nominated as next EU foreign policy chief, told
European Parliament members during a confirmation hearing on October 6 that in
its eastern neighborhood the EU “will need to support” Georgia, Moldova and
Ukraine
“We need a greater attention in
different forms to the east – starting from support to Ukraine in terms of
security, institutional reforms, political process, economic challenges and
energy challenges. We will need to support Moldova and Georgia… We will need to
work with Armenia, Azerbaijan and Belarus on our way forward,” Mogherini said
in his opening remarks during the hearing at the European Parliament’s foreign
affairs committee.
Georgia was mentioned in the
context of the Eastern Partnership once again during the three-hour hearing
when Mogherini was asked how she sees democratic transformation in the Eastern
Partnership countries in the view of Russia’s attempts “to establish Soviet
sphere of influence there.”
Mogherini responded: “I think
the attempt that Russians trying to have is that of showing that the European
choice is bad for the people in those countries… If we manage to show together
that the European choice is good for the citizens of these countries – I think
of Moldova, where difficult elections are coming now, I think of Georgia, I
thing obviously of Ukraine – if the European choice is delivering concrete good
results for the people, that would be an attractive pull factor also for parts
of their societies that are probably thinking in different way today.”
In her opening remarks
Mogherini said that Russia “might not be a partner at the moment – which is a
picture of the situation today, still it is a strategic country in the world.”
“So I guess we will need to
deeply re-assess together our relations [with] Russia,” she said.
Asked which tactic she would
use if confronted by “Russia bear”, Mogherini responded: “I would say that we
need mix of assertiveness and diplomacy – the balance will also depend on the
reaction of the bear.”
When Estonian MEP Tunne Kelam
told Mogherini that “you have yet to convince me how to stop Mr. Putin” and
that EU’s sanctions are lagging behind Kremlin’s moves, Mogherini responded
that the sanctions have been “effective” as the Russian economy “is starting to
suffer quite a lot.” But she also added: “Are they [sanctions] effective on
Russian political decisions? I think we still have a question mark there.”
Mogherini said that her “point of reference” is to work with the Ukrainians and
to support President Petro Poroshenko’s efforts “because in the end they are
the ones who have to deal with conflict on their territory.”
She also said that the EU may
need to work on increasing sanctions against Russia “if things get worse” in
respect of Ukraine, and the EU “could lift the sanctions if things get better.”
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