Luxembourg, 01/04/2005 (Agence Europe) - Friday's meeting of the EU-Russia Permanent Partnership Council in Luxembourg on Friday allowed for a substantial reduction in the number of problems that are still an obstacle to the adoption of the roadmaps for the establishment of four “common spaces” that the EU and Russia have undertaken to create in coming years in the following areas: economy, freedom/security/justice, external security, research/education/culture. This was asserted by the president-in-office of the Council, Luxembourg's Foreign Minster Jean Asselborn, addressing the press after the meeting with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov. Asselborn said experts will be working intensively during April with a view to finalising the roadmaps. He is convinced that the four documents will be finalised and may be adopted as a package during the EU/Russia Summit scheduled to take place in Moscow on 10 May. As Jean Asselborn explained to EUROPE, “tremendous progress” has been made on all four spaces, but especially on that which hitherto posed the most problems, namely that on external security. Asselborn went on to explain that there had been a certain downturn in discussions on the management of political problems concerning the countries and regions located between the EU and Russia, but that, today, “we were really able to bring the situation on this space out of deadlock” and, he explained, “I am very optimistic that 100% common ground will be reached.” It is known that Russia had successfully objected to the concept of “common neighbours” initially proposed by the EU with a view to establishing a sort of permanent cooperation and coordination mechanism in order to reach a common solution to the different political crises in the common neighbourhood of the two blocs, such as Moldova, for example. The formula finally adopted in the new text developed on Friday no longer speaks of common neighbours but of “countries adjacent to Russia” and “countries adjacent to the EU” Asselborn explained to EUROPE. According to this formula, each side will therefore seek to contribute to the solution of these conflicts by using its own specific diplomatic instruments and means of pressure (an approach that Russia has supported from the outset), but “the idea of common neighbours remains our prime objective”, Asselborn told EUROPE. There are still unresolved problems regarding the second space, that relating to freedom/security/justice, particularly regarding the future visa regime and the conclusion of re-entry agreements, but there is a fair chance that these issues will be resolved during a forthcoming meeting of the EU/Russia Permanent Partnership Council (at the level of justice and home affairs ministers) to be held in Luxembourg on 15 April.
When it comes to international politics, there is now “common ground and convergence of views between Moscow and Brussels on a large number of issues, such as the Balkans, Iran, Iraq and the Middle East”, Asselborn was pleased to note. “The other side of the coin” is that the EU and Russia have different opinions on Moldova, the president-in-office of the Council said, stating: “Here, there is a slightly different analysis and argument”. Even on the subject of Moldova, however, there is now a glimmer of hope that Russia and the EU will work together more, mainly through the recent appointment of an EU special representative for Moldova and Transnistria (Adriaan Jacobovitz). Jean Asselborn said Jacobovitz will immediately contact all the parties involved - Russia, Ukraine, Romania and the United States - with a view to facilitating a concerted solution to this highly precarious problem of Transnistria, which is a real “black hole at the heart of Europe where drug and arms trafficking and other criminal activities flourish”.