April 24, 2007

 

EU stays bullish on Russian partnership deal despite setback

 

 

The European Union remained upbeat Monday (Apr 23) that it can begin negotiations for a comprehensive but delayed strategic partnership accord with Russia next month although the biggest hurdle--a Russian ban on Polish meat and plant products--remained unresolved after weekend talks.

 

EU officials said that while EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou failed to convince Russian Agriculture Minister Alexei Gordeyev in Cyprus to end a 2005 ban on Polish meat and plant imports they remain optimistic the partnership talks can be launched at a May 18 EU-Russia summit.

 

"We are not yet quite ready to (fire) the starting gun for negotiations," said German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on arrival at an EU foreign ministers meeting. He and EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner were optimistic that that will happen at the May 18 summit in Samara, Russia.

 

The EU leaders wanted to launch the talks last year. They proposed detailed negotiations for a strategic partnership with Russia aiming to secure fair trade and investment conditions in Russia for EU energy companies. It would replace a lower-profile 1997 deal.

 

But at a Nov 24 summit in Helsinki, Finland, Putin opposed giving foreigners easy access to Russia's vast energy sources or breaking up state monopolies that pump oil and gas and ferry it to domestic and foreign clients.

 

Fair trade in and access to energy is an issue of growing concern in western Europe, which is increasingly dependent on Russian oil and gas.

 

Further complicating the matter, Poland responded to the Russian import ban by vetoing the start of any negotiations on the partnership accord, aggravating the EU's already soured relations with Russia.

 

EU officials are dismayed by what they perceive as Russia's disregard for the rule of law in energy and other fields. Monday, Sweden's foreign minister, Carl Bildt, highlighted concern over police tactics in dispersing anti-government demonstrators in Moscow and St Petersburg recently, saying it amounted to "police brutality".

 

The EU foreign ministers were to meet with their Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, over dinner Monday.