8/3/2002
The Challenges For Kaliningrad: The Rt Hon Chris Patten, European Commissioner for External Relations: Council of the Baltic Sea States - Eleventh Ministerial Meeting, Svetlogorsk, 6 March 2002

Mr Chairman, Colleagues, Distinguished Guests

It is ten years exactly since the first Ministerial in Copenhagen launched the Council of Baltic Sea States. I applaud the foresight of its founding fathers, notably Hans-Dietrich Genscher and Uffe Ellemann-Jensen, whose presence we welcome today. I do not want to repeat what has already been said about the many achievements of the CBSS over the last decade. I would prefer to address two issues that are particularly important for the Commission: developing the Northern Dimension and the challenges for Kaliningrad of the forthcoming EU enlargement.

The CBSS is of course one of the basic actors in the Northern Dimension, a broad concept that touches many aspects of EU policy in this region. I want to focus on four priorities for the Commission: the environment, nuclear safety, Kaliningrad, and organised crime :

· in the environment, we have recently agreed a €22m contribution to the St Petersburg Wastewater Treatment Plant, in addition to a number of activities in and around Kaliningrad;

· in nuclear and environmental safety, we have been pushing to develop the Northern Dimension Environmental Partnership, and have offered to contribute €50m to the NDEP Fund, the largest contribution by far to this important initiative;

· for organised crime, the financial requirements are less, but a promising dialogue is developing on issues such as money-laundering and trafficking in women, issues which affect us all;

· and for Kaliningrad in particular, since 1991 we have committed some €40m to a wide range of projects.

In addition, we support cross-border co-operation across the region, working not only on border-crossing infrastructure, but on promoting economic co-operation between border regions, and on addressing trans-border environmental issues. We want to strengthen co-ordination between the different Community instruments in this field (Tacis, INTERREG and Phare), and would like to see more joint projects with a genuine cross-border character.

The Northern Dimension has undeniably made a difference to EU activities across the region. I congratulate the CBSS on your work in this area. The importance of the Northern Dimension can only grow as the context of the region changes, and as four more Baltic countries become members of the EU.

For me there are three key-words for Baltic regional co-operation in the coming decade focus, leadership, and opportunity.

· focus, through enhanced co-ordination between the numerous regional bodies and working groups that are active in this area;

· leadership, expressed through an effective division of labour. Each of us must limit ourselves to areas where we offer the most value added and then be pro-active in bringing all partners together to achieve common goals;

· opportunity, in working together to seize the opportunities that enlargement offers to the Baltic region as a whole, and to all Baltic partners.

Many of these concepts come together in our policy on Kaliningrad. I therefore congratulate the Russian presidency on the symbolism of holding this meeting here. Kaliningrad's geographical situation gives it many potential advantages. Yet the region faces many problems and challenges too. Some of the most immediate questions concern the effects of EU enlargement. Some people fear isolation. Some fear further burden on the region. The reverse is true. Enlargement offers first and foremost new opportunities for more co-operation, for better mutual undertanding and more prosperity for the people of Kaliningrad. This is all the more important since Kaliningrad has lagged behind the rest of the Baltic, and many other regions of Russia. I know that the authorities here in Kalinigrad are worried about the spread of organised crime, illegal immigration, environmental pollution and diseases like AIDS. They challenge the security of Kaliningrad and Russia as well as that of present and future EU Member States.

We are keen to do what we can to help tackle these problems. I have already mentioned our technical assistance amounting to €40m. And in January last year, the Commission presented a comprehensive paper as a basis for discussion with Russia and the candidate countries bordering on Kaliningrad. We remain optimistic that the ideas in this paper will help us to make progress. And I welcome the constructive and businesslike way the Spanish government is using their EU presidency to take the debate forward.

In this context, we have been increasingly active in addressing the difficult issues which seem of most importance to our friends in Moscow in particular, visas and transit between Kaliningrad and the rest of Russia. We are working intensively with EU Member States and with Lithuania and Poland to define a position which will help us to make progress in the EU's forthcoming meetings with Russia.

We first need calmly to assess the true scale of the problems. We have asked Russia for information, for example on border movements, and have proposed a series of technical meetings. I hope that we will receive replies on these issues very soon.

Then we need to explore common ground between Russia's wish to ensure easy transit between Kaliningrad and the rest of Russia, and our own need to ensure our security. We cannot override our basic rules here, including the Schengen acquis, nor undermine the enlargement negotiations themselves. Efforts will be necessary on all sides: for example, I hope that Russia will soon be able take steps to issue the Kaliningraders with valid international passports.

My message to our Russian friends on Kaliningrad is simple. Let us move on from sterile argument about things like the format of meetings and start real co-operation on substance. We have a number of Ministerial and technical meetings over the coming months, and we are ready to hold a special meeting of senior officials here in Kaliningrad in May. We should use this Co-operation Committee to agree a picture of what we can do for Kaliningrad on the issues I have mentioned. This will ensure good preparation for the Moscow Summit a few days later.

I am confident that with goodwill and a spirit of co-operation, there is a great deal we can achieve together. We are ready to continue making a major effort to resolve all outstanding issues.

Finally, Mr Chairman, I would like to reiterate my congratulations on this 10th anniversary of the CBSS, and to underline my conviction that Europe's Northern Dimension stands on the threshold of tremendous new opportunities for continuing democratic development, for enhanced regional co-operation, and for shared prosperity.