Brussels, 29/05/2002 (Agence Europe) - The EU is willing to grant Russia market economy status and implement without delay all the legislative measures necessary to allow Russia to benefit from the commercial advantages arising from this new status as quickly as possible, particularly in the context of anti-dumping procedures. Such is the main result of the EU/Russia Summit held on 29 May in Moscow with the participation of President Vladimir Putin and, on the EU side, José Maria Aznar, Romano Prodi and Javier Solana. The granting of market economy status, which Russia has been requesting for a long time, is an "additional step towards strengthening our economic cooperation", the aim of which must be "complete integration of our economies", welcomed Mr Putin after the meeting. Mr Prodi stressed that the EU is the first trading power to offer Russia this recognition, "an important milestone along the road to Russia's accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), a process for which we are the pioneers". In practical terms, in its anti-dumping procedures, the EU will analyse the individual situation of each Russian exporter concerned and will take as a basis the costs of production and prices practised on the Russian market instead of referring to practices in other third countries not considered as market economies. The European delegation also restated its support to Russia's swift membership to the WTO (a process for which recognition by the EU of Russia's market economy is highly important). Regarding the project to establish a Common European Economic Space, Mr Prodi stressed the progress made and the determination to go forward still faster "in months to come". Russia, for its part, undertook to complete economic reforms and mainly the gradual elimination of trade barriers and the liberalisation of the energy markets. The main themes covered by the Summit are:
1) Dialogue on energy cooperation. The Summit noted the second report on the progress of the High Level Working Group on future cooperation. Both sides welcomed the "dynamism" of the pragmatic approach of the process. "We recognise that the European energy market has now become the largest and the most integrated in the world and that Russia deserves to have access to it", said a joint declaration. With regards to natural gas, the parties insist on the importance of long term contracts in order to guarantee, above all, the funding of projects in the common interest. On electricity, several questions remain outstanding, such as that on the reciprocity of market opening, environmental and nuclear norms, etc. Finally, Russia reiterated its dissatisfaction about the lack of export opportunities for nuclear products towards the European market.
2) EU/Russia cooperation on crisis management and security. Both sides "firmly restated" their commitment to cooperation in this respect. "We shall act together to strengthen the security of all in Europe (…). Our cooperation is an integral part of global security", said the joint declaration on political and security dialogue. Russia proposed to fine-tune a joint action plan in the ESDP field and the EU announced that it will present concrete proposals to the Seville Summit for cooperation and consultation with Russia on crisis management, with a view to Russian participation in EU-led crisis management missions.
3) EU enlargement. The enlargement process will open new prospects for relations between us but could also create new problems, particularly in terms of trade, economic cooperation and human contact, notes the final declaration. No solution has been found to the problems of the Kaliningrad enclave, but both sides agreed that it would be an essential point for strategic development between Russia and the EU and to strengthen a good neighbour and mutual understanding atmosphere. Putin did not hide his disappointment that the Russian proposals for Kaliningrad had not been "understood" by the EU, but he saw this as a viability and quality test for future relations.
Negotiations over international policy issues confirmed that the EU and Russia had the same vision of how to combat terrorism and the conflicts in Kashmir, the Middle East and Afghanistan. As opposed to the draft document, the final version of the joint statement did not refer to Chechnya. Questioned by reporters, President Prodi said that there was no "new message" concerning Chechnya.