Brussels, 22/04/2004 (Agence Europe) - On a daily basis the EU and Russia are tuning their violins in order to obtain consensus on an extension of the Cooperation and Partnership Agreement between the EU and Russia to ten future EU Member States by 1 May. In Moscow, the Russian minister for development, Guerman Gref, quoted by AFP, announced that an agreement had been reached on the issue of transporting goods to and from the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, at the end of the meeting with the EU delegation. The question of Russian minorities in Baltic countries remains pending if the protocol extending the CPA is to be extended.
On the issue of Kaliningrad, which will be "cut off" from Russia after EU enlargement, the objective was to reconcile Moscow's position and fears about economic losses resulting from the application of the Community's customs duties and the EU's position which seeks an application of these controls. The two parties will have to sort out this problem of how Russian minorities are treated in Baltic countries, an issue that Moscow wants to see included in the joint political declaration, and which in principle should be approved in parallel to the signing of the protocol (EUROPE 14 April, p 11). On this point there is still no agreement, declared Diego de Ojeda, spokesperson for Commissioner Chris Patten on Thursday. This did not, however, dampen the optimism displayed by the Commission over recent weeks.: the two parties are "very very" close to an agreement for extending the CPA and are expected to be announcing this a the Permanent Council of the EU/Russia Partnership on 27 April in Luxembourg.