International   

U.S. missile plan not welcome: France

MOSCOW: France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy came out against the deployment of U.S. missiles in Europe as Russia and the EU agreed to restart talks on a new partnership pact frozen in the wake of the Russian-Georgian war in August.

The U.S. plan “does nothing to promote European security, but only complicate things,” he said at a press conference with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev after a E.U.-Russia summit in Nice on Friday. He endorsed Mr. Medvedev’s proposal to convene a summit of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in mid-2009 to discuss the Russian proposal for a new Euro-Atlantic security pact, which would set legal rules for the use of force across the continent. The U.S. and Canada are also members of the 56-nation OSCE pact.

Mr. Sarkozy said the new pan-European security framework would also help avoid the deployment of Russian missiles in Kaliningrad next to Poland and Germany. “The OSCE summit in June or July 2009 could lay the foundations for what can be the future of European security in Europe and put an end to talks about building a missile shield which does nothing to promote European security, but only complicates things,” said Mr. Sarkozy. Mr. Medvedev said: “We should all refrain from unilateral steps that affect security in Europe before a global agreement is reached.” The leaders said Russia and the E.U. were resuming talks on a cooperation pact. The E.U. had suspended the talks in response to Russia’s “disproportionate” retaliation to Georgia’s attack against South Ossetia.

Meanwhile, Russia’s Parliament overwhelmingly backed a Kremlin proposal to extend the presidential term from four to six years amid speculation that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin might return to the presidency he held for eight years.

The Duma on Friday approved changes to the Constitution, lengthening both the presidential and parliamentary mandates, with 388 votes in favour and 58 against in the first of three required readings. The Duma’s term would be extended from four to five years.

Mr. Medvedev made the proposal in his state-of-the-nation address last week, arguing that longer terms for the President and Parliament would facilitate reforms and enhance political stability.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Red Cross in charge of Indian aid to Sri Lankan Tamils
India for peaceful Nepal: Prachanda
Focus on Arab women empowerment
U.S. missile plan not welcome: France

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu