Debate on the Eastern Partnership of the Union

It was a duty and a necessity. As the Union had to open up to the countries of Central Europe, it had to offer a partnership to the eastern countries that this enlargement had made our new neighbours. This partnership has its weaknesses and its achievements. But, ten years later, an obvious fact must become clear to us.

In our Eastern Partnership we have forgotten about Russia or, more precisely, we did not want to see it because the problems it poses seemed so intractable to us. Well, this political cowardice must be addressed today by exploring the possibility of new “Helsinki agreements” with Moscow: agreements on security and cooperation.

It will be difficult, people say.

No, it will be extremely difficult, but we must try to do it because the Russian Federation is the other half of the continent, the largest country in the world, a country that is impoverished and dilapidated but whose capacity to cause harm remains considerable.