Today in Brussels, the S&D Group in the European Parliament organised a conference on "Europe in Crisis: a call for a new dialogue" with the participation of MEPs, MPs and other speakers from Russia, Georgia, Moldova and the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, in order to highlight the need for a new dialogue promoting security, economic cooperation and human rights.
Speaking at this conference, Gianni Pittella, president of the Socialists and Democrats Group in the European Parliament, said:
"40 years after the Helsinki Act, the spirit of the Helsinki Agreement is more topical than ever. We have to stabilize relations in the way we did with the Helsinki Act in order to bring the world together.
"The circumstances that we live in today are rather unique. The recent attacks in Paris are a snapshot of the vulnerability of our world.
"We must show the political will that is required and restart dialogue, cooperation, coordinated strategy and common action in order to protect peace, security, democratic values and human rights against the rise of Salafism, an ideology of death. However, we have to realize that the rise of Daesh and extremist groups is a direct result of the disastrous Bush wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. From Islamabad to Nigeria there is a terrorist playground that cannot be solved by military action alone.
"We have the right and the duty to defend peace and global security. To achieve this we must all act together with a renewed sense of international cooperation; in a new pact for security between the powers of the world, the EU, the USA, Russia, the Arab countries and Iran. Only through this process will we bring stability back to the Middle East and the rest of the world. We must achieve this stability and peace and give hope and vision to our younger generations."
S&D vice-chair responsible for foreign affairs, Knut Fleckenstein, said:
"The Helsinki Final Act is very relevant today because, at a time of tensions between the East and the West, it defined the principles for peaceful cooperation in Europe and because these principles were reaffirmed after the end of the Cold War, in Paris in 1990. The Helsinki Final Act also serves as a model for a successful dialogue process which should be re-established today.
"The time for business as usual in EU-Russia relations is over. Business as usual has only led to an exchange of accusations from both sides. But we need to revive the spirit of the entire Helsinki process in Europe. It was the spirit of dialogue and cooperation that led to strong contacts between our people, democratic development, economic prosperity and cooperation, and respect for human rights.
"The S&D Group proposes three concrete measures to improve East/West cooperation, based on the Helsinki spirit:
1. Promoting free movement of people throughout Europe through visa facilitation and visa liberalisation;
2. Removing parliamentarians from sanctions lists;
3. The organisation of a summit in 2016 that will renew the Helsinki dialogue at the highest possible political level."
Finally, Knut Fleckenstein added:
"Cooperation is always more successful than opposing one another, and that's the way to defeat the threat of terrorism; otherwise it will spread and expand."
