Brussels, 22/10/2002 (Agence Europe) - EU foreign affairs ministers have reached agreement over the issue of transit to and from the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad. The President of the Council, Per Stig Moeller, said that the agreement would be enshrined without debate at the Brussels European Council and presented in that format to the Russians at the EU/Russia Summit of 11 November, without any further negotiations. The Presidency unveiled a document taking account of both sides' views: 1) "Lithuania will be among the first group of candidate countries to participate fully in Schengen" and the EU pledges to include in the Accession Treaty with Lithuania guarantees that "a decision on the non-stop trains option will only be taken after Lithuania's accession to the EU" (and that Lithuania's accession will not be held up by the Kaliningrad question); and 2) the decision to carry out a feasibility study in 2003 on such trains will be with Lithuania's agreement. The feasibility should be carried out as soon as possible. EU sources suggest that Russia is unlikely to have great problems with the text.
Other main conclusions are: - Lithuania will set in place national controls at its borders as of 1 January 2003; - the document facilitating transit, the FTD (see EUROPE of 19 September, p.7), should be available from 1 July 2003 for direct transit between Kaliningrad and the rest of Russia; - and the use of internal Russian passports with these FTD will be authorised until 31 December 2004 for train transit. The Council invites the Commission to set this process on track as soon as possible after the European Council. The EU/Russia Summit is expected to result in detailed projects on border management, cooperation regarding justice and home affairs and, above all, the question of a readmission agreement between the EU and Russia. The Council invites Russia to conclude a readmission agreement with Lithuania and the other candidate countries as swiftly as possible. Finally, the setting in place of a visa-free regime between the EU and Russia is a long term issue, separate from the question of Kaliningrad.