I
have just finished my opinion piece of this week for Visão, a well-read general
news magazine that is published every Thursday in Lisbon. This time the theme
had to be about the relations between the EU and Russia, in the aftermath of
the shooting down of the Malaysia Airlines plane.
My
points are that we have to combine much tougher and better targetted economic
sanctions against key Russian enterprises, including Rosneft, making sure they
cannot access the European financial markets, with a continuous invitation for
political dialogue between Europe and Russia. In the end, both blocs need each
other. Russia, sooner or later, will require EU capital, technology and
markets to develop its Far East. And Europe has a lot to gain by participating
in the economic development of its big neighbour.
However
the long term view cannot ignore the realities of today. And the key message
here is that Russia has to fully implement the Helsinki Act of 1975 about peace
and cooperation in Europe and non-interference in the internal affairs of other
states.
No comments:
Post a Comment