"EU not ready for deal with Russia"
“We are not pushing, we are not pressing, we are not in a hurry. If the EU needs to mature, as it obviously does, then so be it. We want the treaty as much, or as little, as the EU does,” Russian ambassador to the EU Vladimir Chizhov said Tuesday
Speaking to Brussels-based journalists, Mr Chizhov warned against the negotiation process becoming “hostage to certain interests of individual member states of the EU, pursuing their own agenda that have little or nothing to do with the EU-Russia relations”, EUobserver.com reports. “I am not questioning the principle of European solidarity. It is an understandable basis for the common EU foreign policy,” the ambassador added, stressing: “I would prefer not to see this principle being tested on my country”, the ambassador added. The EU-Russia relations have the last ten years been based on the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement from 1997. The agreement was last fall extended with one year, following failed talks on a new agreement.
