Brdo, 31/03/2008 (Agence Europe) - In Brdo, Slovenia, the foreign affairs ministers of the member states of the EU examined their relationship with the Russian Federation. As agreements have now been made with Russia on exports of Polish meat and phyto-sanitary issues, the path is now open for the adoption of the negotiation mandate for a new partnership agreement with Russia. This mandate may be adopted very soon, once the Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER) has finished drafting the document.
A new Russian administration is coming into being, said Benita Ferrero-Waldner. Although the European Commissioner for External Relations is not confident that any major changes will be made, she does believe that the opportunity to enter into a new relationship with Russia must be seized, “making the best possible use of our collective negotiation capacity” to establish a broad partnership agreement, covering issues such as energy, research, the fight against terrorism, order control, health and consumer protection.
The Union managed to keep its unity intact, the Council president stated, observing that “a number of bilateral contacts gave the impression that Russia would prefer to deal with a divided Europe”. Dimitrij Rupel said that the ministers had held “a rich debate on democracy”. Without attempting to hinder the opening of negotiations, Lithuania continues to call for guarantees regarding its energy supply. Other countries of Central and Eastern Europe remain highly critical towards Russia and its role in frozen conflicts. Acknowledging that there are still “a number of comments made by Lithuania and Poland continuing to be
problematic” and that these are to be resolved by COREPER, the Slovenian minister nonetheless voiced hopes that negotiations would be able to kick off before the end of its Presidency.
“This is an important time for Europe's relations with Russia”, said David Miliband, a co-signatory, along with Bernard Kouchner, of a letter proposing to go into greater detail in the analysis of the current situation in Russia, possibly with the cooperation of the European Council on Foreign Relations. The proposal of the British and French ministers went down well with other ministers, but there are plans to approach various institutions and think tanks within the Union and in Russia. (O.J.)