EU-Russia strategic treaty at stake at Luxembourg meeting

A new basic treaty between the EU and Russia may be given the green light at a 29 April General Affairs and External Relations Council in Luxembourg. Only one of the 27 EU countries – Lithuania – has expressed reservations ahead of the meeting.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will meet EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner and Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitri Rupel, whose country holds the EU presidency, to discuss a possible re-launch of talks to conclude a basic treaty between Russia and the EU. Out of respect for the Orthodox Easter, the Council, the highlight of which is the EU-Russia Troika, will be held on Tuesday rather than Monday. 

EU-Russia relations are currently governed by an outdated 1997 Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, which was due to be replaced after 10 years by a new legal framework. However, the issue has repeatedly been blocked, most notably by Poland, which vetoed the negotiations in protest over a Russian ban on Polish meat and vegetables. Then, no sooner had Russia lifted its ban on Poland did Lithuania say it would block the launch of talks in reaction to Russia’s shutdown of a pipeline, feeding the only oil refinery in the Baltic country. Russia claims that the reasons for the shutdown are technical, not political. 

Some EU countries, questioning the reliability of Russian gas supplies, insist on including an energy paragraph in the new legal framework. Russia favours a shorter document, without any texts on energy. Most EU nations wish to conclude a deal with Russia for the sake of improving the overall climate and giving President Medvedev a better opportunity to abandon the hardline stance of his predecessor. The Slovenian Presidency hopes to re-launch talks before the EU-Russia Summit in Siberia on June 26 and 27. 

Recently, Russian Ambassador to the EU Vladimir Chizov made sarcastic remarks regarding the EU’s difficulties in securing a common position on the future “Treaty of Strategic Partnership”, as he called it. He said since he was appointed chief negotiator by Moscow, he has been waiting one and a half years for his EU counterparts to take up their seats at the other side of the negotiating table. 

“If the EU needs time to mature, as it obviously does, then so be it. We want the treaty as much, or as little, as the EU does. What I would certainly wish to avoid is to see this negotiating process being taken hostage by certain interests of individual member states of the EU, wishing to pursue their own agendas that have little or nothing to do with EU-Russia relations,” Chizov said. 

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