Brussels, 16/04/2008 (Agence Europe) - Russia is increasingly impatient with regard to the EU's inability to adopt a negotiations mandate for the European Commission to begin negotiations with Moscow for a new strengthened partnership agreement. Addressing the press on 15 April, the Russian ambassador to the EU, Vladimir Chizhof, said, “we would wish to avoid seeing this negotiating process being taken hostage by certain interests of individual member states wising to pursue their own agenda that has little tor nothing to do with EU-Russia relations”.
The ambassador, who will also be the negotiator-in-chief for the new agreement declared that, “Russia does not question EU solidarity” but Moscow does not want, “this new EU foreign policy principle tested on Russia”. He is hoping that the EU will find a solution to its internal problems “very soon”, which will enable it to adopt the mandate during the next General Affairs/External Relations Council on 28 April in Luxembourg. On 29 April, the Russian foreign affairs minister, Sergey Lavrov, will be in Luxembourg for a meeting with the EU27 ministerial troika. In the event of the situation becoming unblocked, negotiations on the new agreement may start during the EU/Russia summit on 26-27 June in Siberia.
The EU green light, which requires a unanimous decision at the Council, is still clashing with reservations expressed by Lithuania and Poland. The two countries affirm that their goal is not to block the opening of the negotiations or obstruct an intensification in EU/Russia relations. They do, however, have serious problems with Moscow in areas they consider as those requiring a common EU reaction. This forms the basis for their appeal for EU27 solidarity when negotiations begin.
In concrete terms, Lithuania is requesting that the Commission's negotiating brief makes an explicit reference to the “Druzhba” affair. This pipeline, which supplies crude oil to the Mazeikiu refinery in Lithuania, was closed by Moscow in July 2006 for, “technical reasons”. Lithuania contests this “technical” justification by the Russian authorities. Vilnius considers this is clearly a “political retaliatory measure” from Moscow to express its disapproval with the takeover of the Lithuanian refinery by a Polish company (when Russia had expressed an interest in the refinery). A senior Lithuanian diplomat explained to EUROPE that, “Russia uses energy as a weapon. The Union cannot tolerate this. We have to learn the lessons from the Druzhba affair, especially because after 2010 (the closure of the last unit in the Ignalina nuclear plant), we and other Baltic countries will be 100% dependent on Russia for our gas imports…We are appealing to the Union's solidarity because this affairs concerns the whole Union”. The same diplomatic source affirmed that the Commission's mandate for negotiations with Russia on the new agreement should, “seriously take into account this problem”. He also stressed that discussions are continuing with the Slovenian presidency, member states and the Commission. Lithuania also wants the mandate to clearly stipulate during the course of the negotiations that the EU will also highlight the question of Russian troop withdrawals from Georgian territory and Moldova, in compliance with commitments made in the OSCE framework. The senior Lithuanian diplomat explained that, “the conclusion of the partnership agreement with Russia should seriously depend on solving this issue”. Vilnius also want the EU, during negotiations, to raise the question of the Moscow's “lack of judicial cooperation” in a whole series of criminal affairs involving member states. The Russian ambassador, Vladimir Chizhov, is hoping that that the EU does not follow up these Lithuanian requests, which he believes hamper the Commission's room for manoeuvre, as it is negotiating on behalf of the whole EU27. Chizhov said, “I would like my partner at the Commission in charge of negotiations (the director general of external relations, Eneko Landaburu: Ed) to have as much room for manoeuvre as me”.
Poland: the problem of the Russian embargo against Polish imports of meat and other agricultural products is still not entirely resolved. Even if a political agreement was recently concluded between the two countries on the lifting of the embargo on meat, Poland is still waiting for a response from Moscow on its request to begin technical discussions on getting rid of import restrictions hitting other agricultural products. Warsaw regards the embargo as a “political measure” taken by Moscow to sanction Poland and test EU27 solidarity. Poland says that this is why the EU has to remain united and firm and include conditions on resolving these problems before beginning negotiations.
Ambassador Chizhov considers that member states that have “bilateral problems” with Moscow should attempt to resolve them in other ways instead of blocking EU/Russia relations. (H.B.)