The Council of Europe, completely forgotten about. The EU and Russia have at their disposal a dialogue instrument which had been forgotten about or neglected: the Council of Europe. Belgium currently holds the six-month Presidency and in that framework, the Belgian Foreign Minister, Didier Reynders, has travelled to Moscow, where he held long talks with his Russian opposite number, Sergey Lavrov. This was reported fully in the Belgian press; the daily newspaper Le Soir even sent a special envoy to the country. Lavrov stressed that Belgian and Russian companies are largely cooperating together, referring to recent investments by the Belgian colossus Solvay in Russia (PVC production) and by the Russian steel industry in Belgium (NMLK in La Louvière).
For his part, Mr Reynders said that Belgian businesses wished to maintain relations with their Russian partners “in sectors which have not been hit by sanctions”, adding that the aim of the sanctions is “not to isolate Russia, but to find a new balance”. He concluded: “we must not be naive (…). Everybody trades in products which are not under sanctions”.
What's more, the Ukrainian president, Mr Poroshenko, is still believed to own two chocolate factories in Russia.
That does not take account of the differences of opinion that led Russia to withdraw from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe; I would invite you to (re)read the frank interview with the President of the PACE, Ms Anne Brasseur (EUROPE 11173). As for the institutions of the EU, allow me to repeat a recent phrase by Jean-Claude Juncker: “I hope that tomorrow, Russia will be a strategic partner once again. All the Commission can do to bring this about will be done” (EUROPE 11211).
Keeping better tabs on Ukraine. A considerable number of members of the European Parliament have taken an initiative which practically amounts to keeping close tabs on the official management of relations between the EU and Ukraine. This is the impression I was left with by the initiative of several members of the EP to create an informal group of friends of Ukraine, with very clear objectives. This is not a small group: it is made up of 48 parliamentarians from 18 member states and representing almost all of the political groups (EUROPE 11216). Their aim, naturally, is to help Ukraine and its people, through direct contact with the European Parliament, but also with the various layers of civil society. No reference is made to relations with the Ukrainian government, however.
I described a number of aspects of relations between the EU and Kiev in EUROPE 11212.
The right timing. The decision in principle taken by the EU not to allow any new countries to join over the last five years is, as I have said before, wise and highly beneficial. Sixty months is how long it will take the EU to bed down all of the highly complex projects currently underway, particularly in the financial and budgetary field. On top of that, the third countries which see themselves as potential candidates do not (yet) fulfil the necessary conditions; indeed, some of them are a long way off it. I am not referring to artificial candidacies, such as Turkey's, but to governments which seem to see the EU as a source of funding and other support, without worrying too much about complying with the rules of admission.
A telling example? In the recent conference on the Balkans arranged by Friends of Europe (EUROPE 11215), Edi Rama, the Prime Minister of Albania, called on the EU to “stop its theatricals regarding the Balkans”, as the Balkan states are running out of patience. He went on to describe the EU as “a good idea, increasingly poorly executed”; he said that he had had enough of words not followed up by actions, conferences which leave behind an endless paper trail. One of his ministers then stressed the importance of EU funding for projects which the Balkan states are incapable of carrying out themselves. Martin Schulz, the President of the European Parliament, called for negotiations with Albania to open as soon as possible.
But what is the current situation in Tirana? In an expression of its disagreement with the government, the opposition has not sat at Parliament for nearly six months. But one of the EU's most fundamental rules is, quite logically, that countries wishing to negotiate their accession and (or) to benefit from its funding must be able to demonstrate that they respect democracy and liberty. (F.R.)