Brussels, 09/10/2007 (Agence Europe) - The fact that negotiations on a new EU-Russia partnership agreement are still blocked (Ed: due to the Polish veto after the Russian embargo against Polish meat) does not prevent either side, if they so wish, from finding concrete solutions to the many problems that persist in many areas, stressed Rytis Martikonis, Lithuania's ambassador with the EU, in an interview with EUROPE. “Treaties are secondary. What counts is the result, not the process itself”, he said. The Lithuanian ambassador deplores the fact that Moscow seems to give more importance to the process and legal framework of cooperation with the EU than to the concrete solution of the many problems on the ground. The Russian approach is not sufficiently “result-oriented”, he said. “There are so many things that could be done, and you don't need a treaty for doing them. We did not need a new treaty for arranging the Kaliningrad transit. So I don't think that the post-PCA treaty is of primary importance here”, he said. He went on to speak of the nuclear programme and the question of the status of Kosovo as subjects on which the EU and Russia can immediately demonstrate that they are in earnest when they speak of strategic partnership. “On these topics, you don't need a new treaty. The current legal framework (of the EU-Russian relationship) is sufficient if there is a will to act”, the Lithuanian ambassador stressed.
Generally speaking, Martikonis wonders whether Moscow is really ready to enter into a relationship of trust with the Union. “We have to look at things in real life. Druzbha (Ed: the pipeline that connects Russia to a refinery in Lithuania) is still closed. Nothing has changed for more than a year. It is not acceptable that the Russian side does not provide us with an explanation on this. They do not cooperate. If there is a technical problem with the pipeline, why don't we go together and look at the leak on the pipeline. If we are really in a strategic partnership and in a relationship based on trust and cooperation, why can we not do this together? (hb)