BELGIUM: External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero Waldner says the European Union must improve ties with energy-rich Central Asia states

The European Union must improve ties with energy-rich Central Asia states, despite human rights concerns, or see them turn towards Russia and China - this is what a senior EU official said in Brussels on Monday (January 15) ahead of an important trip to Asia. External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero Waldner told Reuters shortly before she was due to embark on a trip to China that she understood the concerns of rights groups and said it was important for Europe to speak out on rights issues when dealing with Central Asia. "I, of course, completely understand the concerns that are there by some human rights groups. I myself have been chairperson in office of the OEC in the year 2000 and then for the first time ever the focus was put to Central Asia but I think also we cannot let these countries go and just slip back to other partners," Ferrero Waldner said. She also said she would be urging China to work on lowering pollution so as to help the EU reach its ambitious emissions goals as laid out last week. "We could not have our ambitious goals of cutting the greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2020 if we cannot also include other important players like here China. Whatever China does could indeed offset all our efforts," she said. Ferrero Waldner is due in Beijing on Wednesday (January 17) to launch talks on a broad partnership and cooperation pact with China, covering trade and energy ties. Ahead of the visit, she said that EU plans to cut global greenhouse gas emissions by a minimum of a 20 percent - including a commitment to try to slash them by 30 percent - was impossible without the help of other big polluters like China. She also stepped out warnings that China could face a protectionist backlash unless it opened up its markets and cut a massive trade surplus with Europe. Ferrero Waldner said an energy and climate change partnership launched with China in 2005 needed to broadened by technology sharing and encouraging use of hydro, wind and solar power and biofuels. To underline the important of the talks she said China still opens up a coal-fired power plant a week. Both Europe and China, as major energy consumers and competitors for global resources, needed to cut back on energy demand and increase energy efficiency, she said. Ferrero-Waldner said she could not say how long it would take to finalise the agreement covering all 22 areas of cooperation with China, which is to replace an outdated 1985 pact that dealt only with trade and economic matters. "China has a great chance today to work with us Europeans. Indeed we have a 200-billion-euro relationship, which is a huge trade relationship with a great deficit from the European side but, at the same time, we say in order to balance this relationship of course China will have to open up more," Ferrero Waldner said. Ferrero-Waldner said the European Union was trying to show it would remain open and not succumb to protectionism. The talks will also cover agriculture, transport, customs, education, science, information, security and counter-terrorism. Analysts say the eventual pact will essentially codify existing EU-China ties and as well as trade could also hit snags over China's reluctance to discuss human rights and Taiwan. China has pressed the EU to recognise it as a market economy, a move that would help Beijing fight anti-dumping cases, and to lift an arms embargo put in place after the Tiananmen Square killings in 1989. EU negotiators hope to lower restrictions for European firms in Chinese sectors like automobiles or petrochemicals and for more access to the country's vast public rocurement market. However some Chinese economists argue Beijing should strengthen barriers against foreign investment, not remove them. Looking at Central Asia, Ferrero Waldner said she believed in stepping up the EU's policy on Central Asia and that the Commission would work closely with the German EU presidency and member states to formulate a first ever strategy for the region. Drawn on the issue of whether human rights should take precedence over energy issues and trade in Central Asia Ferrero Waldner said the most important thing for now was to begin an inclusive dialogue otherwise these important markets could flee to countries outside EU whilst ignoring all calls to resolve human rights issues. "I think I's not a matter of securing the energy resources only, it is really a matter of engaging with these countries. If we don't engage with these countries these countries will turn eastwards and turn to Russia and China. And I think it's highly important that they also look very strongly towards Europe," Ferrero Waldner said. Analysts say EU officials are concerned that Russia, China and the United States are already engaged in a 21st century "Great Game" for energy in Central Asia, whereas the Europeans are largely absent. On the other side of the spectrum human rights groups worry the EU's thirst for oil and gas will lead it to sacrifice promotion of rights and good governance in Central Asia. They see Berlin's policy as one of "realpolitik" harking back to 19th century Chancellor Otto von Bismarck's concept of diplomacy driven by interests, not idealism. Germany argues engagement is the way to promote rights, but activists were concerned when it argued successfully against toughening sanctions on Uzbekistan last year and lobbied -- inconclusively -- for Kazakhstan to take the helm of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe in 2009. Ferrero Waldner insisted that the better the trade relations with Central Asia the more likely the EU, together with the international community, could speak up about human rights.

ITN Source | January 16, 2007

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