Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

One of the fundamental tenets of compliance with international law is respect for the territorial integrity of every country. Regardless of the view taken by the Russian Federation or anybody else of the application for NATO membership by Georgia, it does not entitle any country to invade that territory. By the same token, the decision by the Georgian President to send Georgian troops into Abkhazia and South Ossetia at a time when there was a difficulty in terms of the autonomy being sought by those two regions for their own purposes, enabled the situation to develop where the Russian Federation responded in the way it did.

However, ultimately, the basic principle must be respect for the territorial integrity of every country. The tactical mistakes or errors that were made, which brought about the situation with which we now have to contend, does not take away from that fact. From the European Union's point of view, it is that perspective that will inform, in the main, the policy position the Union will take on this matter.

With the conflict having taken place, the need for people to withdraw, abide by the six point plan and to find some sort of a political perspective in which this issue might be resolved for the future was the right approach. Taking a proactive diplomatic effort to arrange for a ceasefire was also a positive role the Union played. However, I do not believe that the background to all of this, the policies being pursued by one country vis-À-vis another, or the other country's view of those policies entitle any country, however powerful or big, to take it upon itself to intervene in a way that compromises the territorial integrity of the country concerned.

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