EU and Russia try to inject energy into mutual ties
RENATA GOLDIROVA
26.06.2008 @ 09:25 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - After a months-long diplomatic stalemate, the European Union and Russia, its largest neighbour and supplier of energy, are meeting today (26 June) to officially launch negotiations on a new strategic partnership pact.
The start of negotiations will be a centerpiece of the two day long EU-Russia summit in the Siberian city of Khanty-Mansiysk - the capital of a region which produces more than half of Russia's oil.
Medvedev (r)) will host his first EU-Russia summit (Photo: Kremlin)
It took some 18 months of diplomacy for the EU and Russia to get to this point.
The process was first blocked by Poland due to Russian embargo on Polish meat. Later, Lithuania pulled out the red card, raising worries over security of energy supplies, judicial co-operation with Russia as well as to the Kremlin's role in frozen conflicts in Georgia and Moldova.
But the majority of EU capitals advocated a new tone in the EU's relations with Moscow, following the election of Dmitri Medvedev as the new Russian president in February this year.
"I look forward to this summit with president Medvedev as it comes at a crucial moment for both Russia and the EU," the European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso said ahead of the top-level meeting.
Efforts to open talks on the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement date back to 2006, as the currently applied treaty expired in 2007 and is currently being extended on annual basis in a default mechanism.
The first round of negotiations - covering economy, freedom and justice, external security and at last, research and education - will take place in Brussels on 4 July. They are expected to last at least one year and to be a rocky ride.
"The process will be rather long-term [and] will entail some difficulties," the head of Russian delegation at the summit, Vladimir Chizhov, told journalists on Monday (23 June).
Number of thorny issues
EU-Russia relations have been tested by several thorny issues, including energy supplies, Kosovo's self-declared independence, tensions in the Caucasus region and the US' plans to place parts of a missile defence shield in Central Europe.
In addition, the summit atmosphere could suffer from Moscow's recently imposed ban on chicken and pork imports from 70 European companies because they contain traces of antibiotics.
"The EU and Russia differ with each other on many issues," Mr Chizhov said. He particularly referred to Kosovo, which seceded from Serbia on 17 February and is to be supervised by the EU.
"We would not oppose a civil mission of the EU in Kosovo provided that this mission was established according to the international legal standards," the Russian ambassador to the EU said, underlining that the mission's mandate lacks an endorsement by Serbia and the UN Security Council.
Tension over Georgia's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and Russia's involvement there will also be discussed at the summit, with one EU official saying the union "will be robust on what it means to preserve the territorial integrity of Georgia."
Abkhazia and South Ossetia have been outside Georgian government control for over a decade after breaking away in bloody wars in the early 1990s, while Russian peacekeeping troops are tasked to oversee the truce.
Russia is ready to accept the EU's active role in settlement, Mr Chizhov said, but added that this "cannot be done to the detriment of the existing negotiations formats."
Lisbon Treaty
Russia has said it will push for abolition of EU visas. "For us, a quick transition to visa-free travel with European countries is a strategic task," Sergei Prikhodko, a Russian presidential aide, was cited as saying RIA Novosti.
Energy matters, including a controversial gas pipeline beneath the Baltic Sea - connecting Russia and Germany - are also set to feature high on the agenda.
Apart from that, Moscow has raised the prospect that a question mark over the EU's future institutional set up - caused by the recent Irish No vote to the Lisbon Treaty - could affect mutual relations.
"There are serious problems within the EU...Of course, this will influence the EU dealing with the third countries, including Russia," Vladimir Chizhov said.