As the Taoiseach underlined at the EU-US Summit on 22 February, Russia is an important and strategic partner of the European Union. This partnership is moving forward rapidly in the economic area. However, there are difficulties in the relationship at this time and these include the question of Russia's attitude to the OSCE.
The Government is concerned that the attitude of the Russian Federation to the OSCE is less positive today than it was during the decade which immediately followed the break up of the former Soviet Union. This is having a negative effect on the ability of the organisation to advance its objectives. We see, for example, an organisation which is at risk of paralysis because consensus is lacking on budgetary and financial issues and whose annual ministerial meeting in each of the last two years has failed to agree a declaration to which all 55 participating states could subscribe. Russia's refusal to renew the mandate of the OSCE border monitoring operation in Georgia at the end of last year and its limited cooperation in resolving the so called frozen conflicts in the OSCE region are also worrying. A particular concern for Ireland and for like minded participating states is Russia's systematic attempt to curtail the activities of the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, ODIHR.
As I understand it, this less positive attitude reflects a number of factors: the Russian perception that there is an imbalance at this point between the three dimensions of OSCE activities, political-military, economic and human, with disproportionate attention being given to the human dimension; its belief that Russia is paying an unfair share of the costs of the organisation; and crucially, an underlying feeling that the values promoted by the OSCE are somehow the values of the states west of Vienna and not the universal values which all 55 participating states are committed to uphold. The last mentioned factor challenges the OSCE in a fundamental way. It suggests, I regret to say, that instead of a convergence of values a gap is developing between Russia and the West in the area of democratic standards and human rights and fundamental freedoms.
Ireland and the European Union do not exclude looking again at the balance between the three dimensions of the activities of OSCE although we would ask why there is a need to focus on political and military issues in the post-Cold War Europe. What we cannot accept is any diminution or dilution of the standards which OSCE has already defined, with respect to conditions for free and fair elections for example. We strongly favour continued engagement with Russia in OSCE and outside it. The participating states of the OSCE have come a long way from the time when the CSCE was as much a forum for confrontation as for cooperation. A review of its recent history shows that the OSCE made significant progress when all participating states including Russia worked together. It would be a great pity if the OSCE, whose composition gives it a unique role in helping to prevent, contain and resolve conflict in Europe became unable to pursue these objectives effectively.