Brussels, 11/09/2002 (Agence Europe) - The issue of Kaliningrad was added to the agenda of Friday's informal Justice and Home Affairs Council ahead of the European Commission's unveiling on 18 September of a report setting out options for a potential compromise with Russia. When Poland and Lithuania join the EU, Kaliningrad will become a Russian enclave in the middle of the European Union. Presenting the JHA Council's agenda (see page 10 too), Denmark's Permanent Representative to the EU, Poul Skytte Christoffersen, said that as enlargement drew nearer, political pressure to find a solution to the problem of transit between Kaliningrad and Russia was rising. He explained that the Presidency wanted to find a solution before the EU/Russia summit of 11 November, adding that it would probably be discussed at the Brussels Summit of 24/25 October. Discussions at the informal JHA Council on Friday afternoon will enable the Commission to test the water before it finalises its report.
Russia is calling for the EU to scrap its visa obligations for Russians in the long-run and for arrangements to be made in EU legislation in the short-term in the form of direct trains or coaches from and to the rest of Russia, whose passengers wouldn't need a visa (see Europe of 4 September, p.8). Christoffersen said that as far as the EU was concerned, secure and monitored external borders were required and it was important that nothing could pose a problem for Lithuania and Poland. The European Commission made its first oral report to EU ambassadors on Wednesday ahead of the informal JHA Council. One diplomat indicated that among the ideas put forward is a "Kaliningrad passport" in the form of a long-lasting visa for Russians living in Kaliningrad or people often travelling there. The idea of a train was going to be discussed. At the first COREPER exchange of views, countries like France and Italy were quite flexible whereas others, like Austria, felt that the idea of a train ran counter to the Schengen Agreement, according to sources in Brussels.