Negotiations on the New partnership agreement EU-Russia
Adelina Marini, March 28, 2008
It is possible that during the summit EU-Russia in June negotiations to start over the new agreement for cooperation and partnership. The previous agreement expired in the end of last year but the negotiations were vetoed by Poland and Lithuania. The deputy prime minister and foreign minister Ivaylo Kalfin said that today, at an informal meeting of the EU foreign ministers an agreement has been reached for the start of the negotiations.
According to the minister, in spite of the expectations surrounding the change of power in the Kremlin, there will not be any significant change in the Russian policy. But he added that he had proposed to his colleagues to seize the momentum when Russia will have a new president and a new government. There is a possibility for achieving a great progress. Kalfin added that at the moment the most tough issues in EU-Russia relations are: the independence of Kosovo, the failure of the reform of the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty, the consent of some member states to accept elements of the US radar system.
The EU insists the rules for liberalisation of trade to be applied not only for the EU but for Russia too. Especially the rules for competition with the appearance of Russian investment in the Union. The future negotiations will focus on the desire of the EU to deepen its relations with Russia's neighbours from the Black see region and Central Asia. Tomorrow ministers will have a breakfast with Serbian foreign minister Vuk Yeremich.