Putin to meet EU leaders in 25 November summit

The 14th EU-Russia summit, postponed earlier this
month at Moscow’s request, is now scheduled to be
held on 25 November in The Hague. The Russian delegation
will be led by President Vladimir Putin.

The summit meeting between the leaders of the EU and Russia was
originally planned for 11 November, but at the last minute it was
pushed back to a later date. One clear reason for the
postponement was Moscow’s intention to meet with the EU’s new
Commission, which according to the latest timetable is
scheduled to take office on 22 November.

However, there are other bones of contention too. The summit is
likely to tackle the sensitive issue of the ‘common neighbourhood’
areas between the two entities, namely Ukraine, Belarus and the
Caucasus, as well as the role of the Organisation for Security and
Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in the latter countries. In recent
years, Moscow has been critical of the OSCE’s involvement in the
region, arguing that the organisation should focus on broader
security-related issues rather than monitoring elections.

Further hot issues between the EU and Russia include the war in
Chechnya (which, according to latest reports prompts throngs
of Chechens to seek refuge or asylum in Poland), human rights,
Kaliningrad, Russian President Putin’s recent political reforms and
Russia’s apparent drift towards the US, as well as Moscow’s desire
to define a special partnership status for itself with Europe.

The aim of the EU-Russia summit is to hammer out a new ‘four
spaces’ agreement that would provide a comprehensive framework for
future bilateral relations. The areas covered by the prospective
agreement include the economy, freedom, security and the rule of
law, security and education, and science.

Read more with Euractiv

Moscow postpones EU-Russia summit

At Moscow's behest, the EU-Russia summit, originally scheduled for 11 November, has been postponed indefinitely. The sides differ over the reasons.