06 October 2004	Wednesday	20 Shaban 1425

BRUSSELS, Oct 5: Russia is backsliding on democracy and the EU must take Moscow to task while bringing other former Soviet republics closer to the West, the bloc's incoming External Relations Commissioner said on Tuesday.

"It's quite obvious, let me be quite clear on that, that we are seeing a backsliding in democracy in Russia at the moment," Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the outgoing Austrian foreign minister, told a confirmation hearing in the European Parliament.

"We need to speak frankly, and you know what that means in diplomatic jargon, with each other about this, but also as equal partners," she said. Ferrero-Waldner insisted she would press Russia on human rights, saying that even in the aftermath of the school siege in the southern town of Beslan in which more than 300 people died, there was no excuse for reverses in basic rights.

"Human rights have always to be defended, also when it comes to combating terrorism, and it's up to us to say this and to shout this from the rooftops," she said. She also said the European Union should promote its European Neighbourhood Policy, designed to boost ties with states that became its neighbours after its eastward enlargement in May.

"I will do everything in my powers to keep Ukraine on our side at least," she said, adding that it would be more difficult to work with Belarus, an authoritarian state which shared few of the EU's values on democracy, freedom and human rights.

"There is such a chance to move forward and to bring those countries that are ringing the enlarged EU towards us more closely," she told the hearing. "Of course that means that we bring them our common values and they, in the end, will be able to share a stake in our internal market. So it is a give and take."

TOUGH TALK: Ferrero-Waldner, who will run the executive EU Commission's big foreign assistance budget and staff, was outlining her priorities for the five-year term of the incoming team which takes office on Nov. 1.

However, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana is due to take over her role when he becomes the bloc's first foreign minister once a constitution agreed in June is ratified. The target date is January 2007, subject to uncertain referendums in several member states.

Ferrero Waldner said she had discussed Russia's war against Chechen guerrillas in the southern republic of Chechnya with President Vladimir Putin. She vowed to hold tough talks with Russia while keeping dialogue alive, saying the EU held just such negotiations with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in New York last month.

"This is exactly what we have to do," she said. "But tough talk is also dialogue for me. As long as we speak to each other we can have a dialogue," she said. Ferrero Waldner said she favoured the EU having a single seat on a reformed UN Security Council to boost its weight in world affairs.

"If you really want the EU to be recognised as an international player on an equal footing with other international players, then that is necessary," she said. -Reuters