In this spirit, a Partnership and Cooperation Agreement was signed between the European Union and Russia in Corfu on 24June 1994. The extensive aid provided by the Federal Government to Russia is in keeping both with its vital interest in the success of the democratic transformation process and with the newly shared political values. Since 1989, Germany’s financial expenditure and existing obligations to the former Soviet Union and the present CIS states have totaled more than DM 90 billion.

In spite of drastic cuts in public spending, the Federal Republic will continue to stand by its financial commitment to the developing countries as well in the coming years. It helps them to help themselves in order to improve the economic, social and political conditions experienced by the people living there. Respect for human rights, participation of the people in the political process, the guarantee of the rule of law, the introduction of a socially oriented market economy, and the development orientation of government action in the recipient countries are important criteria used by the Federal Government in the giving of development aid.

The fact that Germany ranks third among contributors to the United Nations (9.0 percent of the U.N. budget) and pays 22.8 percent of the NATO budget and 28.5 percent of the WEU budget emphasizes the willingness of the Federal Government, in continuation of its policy to date, to contribute to stability and the maintenance of peace within a bilateral and multilateral framework. These are reasons for the German application for a permanent seat on the Security Council.