Former chancellor of Germany Gerhard Schroeder (left) with First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Medvedev
Photo: Dmitry Dukhanin
| Other Photos |
 |
|
 |
Schroeder Lectures on Russia in U.S.
Former chancellor of Germany and current chairman of the supervisory board of Nord Stream AG Gerhard Schroeder read a lecture entitled “Russia and the Future of European Energy Security” at Columbia University in New York City yesterday. Many in the audience thought that he explained Russia's position better than Moscow's official representatives have. RIA Novosti correspondent Dmitry Gornostaev attended the lecture specially for Kommersant.
Schroeder came to the university in a Chevrolet Suburban, perhaps the most American of cars. But if anyone thought the chancellor has a great love for America, they were soon disillusioned. He began to criticize the United States almost as soon as he took the podium. He delivered the lecture in English and spoke for an hour and a half, including questions, and did not say anything good about American in that whole time. But he said a lot of good things about Russia.
He began by saying that Russia is not only Europe's most important partner, but the United States' as well, since it could not solve a single major problem without it – not in the Middle East or Kosovo, nit nuclear nonproliferation or global warming, no to mention energy supplies. “If we can maximally integrate Russia into the world system of economic cooperation, everyone will win,” Schroeder claimed in his opening. Then he gave a short rundown of the history of Russian-Western relations, talking about how unfairly Russia has been treated by the West and how many concessions it has made without receiving anything in return. And it's all because no one wants sincerely to integrate in into the world economic community, with the exception of himself.
Then he turned to the U.S. “I have the impression that the foreign policy of the United States is too concentrated on maintaining a distance in relations with Russia. That may be the result of the time of two hostile blocs. But it seems to me to be a mistake for some members of the administration to try to advocate a so-called containment policy toward Russia,” he said.
The former German chancellor called the U.S. decision to place missile defense elements in Eastern Europe the main problem in relations between Russia and the West. He called for further Russian-U.S. negotiations. He returned to this issue several times in his lectures and the question-and-answer session following it, during which he spoke German. “In Europe, they are afraid of an arms race because of the placement of the American missile defense system,” Schroeder said. “Many Germans are not convinced that the U.S. missile defense system is directed at deflecting a threat that potentially comes from Iran. It looks more like a demonstration of strength in relation to Russia.”
After that, Schroeder came to the topic of his talk, energy security. Here the former chancellor showed himself to be a capable lobbyist for the project he is now at the head of. But, while no one objected to his views on missile defense, he faced a barrage of questions about energy.
He was asked if he is a lobbyist for Gazprom.
“I don't work for Gazprom,” he answered. “I work for a joint venture that is engaged in a project that Gazprom is participating in. There are four people from Gazprom and four from Nord Stream on the supervisory board. And I, naturally, work in the interests of the European Union. My vote is the guarantee that the European Union's interests are protected. Tell me, if that pipeline was in a different region, and not the Baltic, and if the board of the consortium was made up of two Americans and two Germans, would anyone be upset that a German chancellor has a post there?
He paused. No one answered.
So he continued, “I don't understand why they have to have such a negative attitude to my working in a joint venture with Russia.”
A Romanian businessman asked if Russia can be trusted as a gas supplier after its behavior during it conflict over natural gas with Ukraine.
“The conflict over gas was because of the price. Ukraine was paying $50 per [1000] cu. m. while all other countries were paying $140. Ukraine indisputably is an independent sovereign state. So why should a commercial company [Gazprom] subsidize the economy of a sovereign state?”
Then he waxed more philosophical. “Can Russia be trusted?” he asked. “There are probably many answers to that question. I answer based on the experience of Germany. Germany has never had a problem wit Russia with energy, not during the Cold War, and not now, and I suggest that there won't be one. Where is the guarantee? Twenty-five percent of the Russian budget is based on income from the export of fuels to Europe. Seventy percent of Russian gas exports are supplies to Europe. If they are cut off, it would reflect very severely on the Russian economy. That is not Europe's dependence on Russian. That is interdependence. And we need more interdependence.
After having dinner with university members, Schroeder was asked as he was getting back into his Suburban what he thinks of the nomination of Dmitry Medvedev for president of the Russian Federation. Medvedev wrote the foreword to Schroeder's memoirs Decisions: My Life in Politics. The former chancellor froze a moment when Medvedev's name was pronounced. Then he slammed the car door.
Dmitry Gornostaev
All the Article in Russian as of Dec. 12, 2007
|
|
|
