By IRNA,
Paris : French President Nicolas Sarkozy called for a temporary moratorium on stationing US missile systems in Europe and said deployment of a planned US system would do “nothing” for security on the continent.
Speaking after a regular summit meeting of top European Union officials and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Nice, France, Sarkozy backed Russian calls for a summit in mid-2009 to discuss security arrangements in Europe.
The day after Barack Obama won the US presidential election, Medvedev threatened to station short-range missiles in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea to “neutralize” the US missile system planned for deployment in nearby Poland.
The accompanying US radar would be located in the Czech Republic.
Whether the Obama administration might change US plans remains to be seen.
While campaigning, Obama was skeptical, saying the system hadn’t been proven. A spokesman said last week that the president-elect “supports deploying a missile-defense system when the technology is proved to be workable.”
A security summit next year, Sarkozy said, could take place under the umbrella of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, though he added that the EU would need to consult with the US first.
The US, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the Russia-led Commonwealth of Independent States would be invited, said Medvedev.
“Between now and then, please let’s not have any more talk of deployment of missiles or deployment of anti missile systems,” said Sarkozy.
“Deployment of a missile-defense system would bring nothing to security in Europe, it would complicate things, and would make them move backward.” Sarkozy said many European leaders shared his assessment.
“I agree that before we have signed a new security agreement, we should all refrain from unilateral steps that might affect that security we have never taken such steps,” said Medvedev.
The US State Department declined to comment on Sarkozy’s remarks, referring to comments made Thursday, before the summit in Nice, France, by deputy spokesman Robert Wood.
Wood called for Russia to cooperate with the defense plan, saying, “We need a partner.”
“We believe it’s in the best interest of the United States and its European allies,” he said.
“These future threats from the Middle East, we’re very concerned about, and we think missile defense is the right approach.” Though Sarkozy said Friday’s meeting included a “frank” discussion of continuing disputes between the EU and Russia, Friday’s summit in Nice looked like a makeup session.
Earlier this week, the EU set the tone by agreeing to restart talks on a new partnership agreement with Russia that were suspended in protest by the EU after Russia’s August military incursion in Georgia.
EU officials have said it isn’t in the interest of the 27-nation bloc to continue a stand-off with Moscow.
Russia’s share of EU trade in goods has more than doubled since 2000, to nearly 8% of exports and more than 11% of imports in the first half of this year, according to EU figures.
That makes Russia the bloc’s third-largest trading partner after the US and China. Much of those EU imports are natural gas and oil.
Sarkozy said Russia had “to a very large extent” complied with commitments it made in the wake of the Georgia conflict.
He also contrasted the EU’s peace-making mediation favorably with the US role in the confrontation and indicated he thought it was now clear Georgia started the war.
“If you had to choose between the approach of the EU and that of the so-called friends of Georgia, the EU one is better. You know what I’m driving at,” said Sarkozy.
“I never waved the military threat, unlike others,” he said, an apparent reference to the US decision to deliver aid to Georgia after the conflict using naval vessels and military transport aircraft.