Almost one year on from the Russia-Georgia conflict, there remains a lot to do to repair the damage. Thousands of displaced people are still unable to return to their homes. Russian troops still occupy positions in breach of the ceasefire agreements signed last summer.
Our support for Georgia’s rights is clear. Glenys Kinnock made this clear when she visited Tbilisi in June. I applaud the EU's decision this week to extend the EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia.
I very much welcome Vice-President Biden's reaffirmation during his recent visit to Tbilisi of US commitment to a democratic Georgia -consolidation of the progress made so far is the clearest path towards durable peace.
There is a separate and wider debate about European security spurred by President Medvedev’s call for a “New European Security Architecture”. It is important, and can show that the post Soviet geography of Central and Eastern Europe is not a threat to Russia. The greatest risks we face are shared.
Posted at 15:24 30 July 2009 by David Miliband | Comments[20]
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Economic Contributions of A8 Migrants
A new study by UCL (University College London) released last Thursday presents some interesting new statistics on the economic impact of immigration from the A8 countries (those that acceded to the EU in 2004 - the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Poland) to the UK.
The report finds that A8 immigrants who have been living in the UK long enough to claim benefits are 60% less likely than British citizens to claim state benefits or tax credits. It also shows that in the last financial year A8 immigrants paid 37% more tax than they claimed back in goods and services from the State. According to the report this is because these migrants are much more likely to be working, pay more in indirect taxes, and claim fewer benefits and services than British citizens.
Posted at 10:54 30 July 2009 by David Miliband | Comments[5]
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