EU and Russia to start visa talks
-This was the best EU-Russia summit I have ever experienced, EU Commission President José Manuel Barroso said after this week’s EU-Russia top meeting in Brussels. The parts not only made significant steps forward on key issues like trade and the development of a Partnership for modernization, but also agreed to start a process on lifting current visa regulations.
The Russians had put the visa issue on top of the agenda in the previous summit in Rostov-on-Don and both sides were therefore under pressure to show results on the issue in this week’s summit. Results were achieved, however they were far more modest than originally hoped for by the Russians.
According to Commission President Barroso, the parts “will now start elaborating a list of common steps and the implementation of those concrete steps will open the way for talks on a EU-Russia Visa Waiver Agreement”, the EU Commission website informs.
Both parts are well aware of the fact that the process will not be easy and that the desired visa-free regime will not come easy. Still, the announced process marks the start of more formalized talks on the issue. In the press conference following the summit, Barroso highlighted that both parts now acknowledge that a visa-free regime is a common objective. “I am not saying that we will very soon get a visa-free regime, but we have agreed that we will do our best to achieve this”, he told the journalists.
President Dmitry Medvedev expressed understanding with the EU’s complex position on the issue, but still stressed that the visa regime must be abolished. On the way to achieving that, the current regulations should be facilitated and regional visa agreements concluded, he said at the press conference.
As previously reported by BarentsObserver, Russia has signed an agreement on Local Border Traffic with Norway, opening up for visa-free travel in the two countries’ border areas. A similar agreement between Kaliningrad and Poland is under negotiations.
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The visa issue was, however, not the top issue in this EU-Russia session. More important was the EU’s approval of Russia’s quick accession to the World Trade Organisation. Barroso called EU-Russian agreement on the WTO a milestone in relations, saying that it will have substantial impact on relations.
“We believe WTO accession will strengthen trade and investment rules in Russia itself and will therefore be beneficial to Russian businesses and its citizens and also for trade and investment with the European Union. This was in fact a very important success, he stressed. With the agreement with the EU, Russia is expected to join the trade club in 2011.
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Also of significant importance in the EU-Russian summit were new signals on the elaboration of a new EU-Russia Partnership Agreement. EU Council President Van Rompuy said a the press conference the WTO deal could open the way for a push also in the negotiations on the New Agreement.
The previous partnership agreement expired in 2007 and the two sides have since been unable to reach a new compromise deal. Representatives of the countries now engage in a 12th round of negotiations. A new agreement could now be within reach. Describing the new partnership agreement, Barroso said that it should be “a solid, ambitious agreement, with substantive provisions in all key areas, including trade, investment and energy”.
Read also: EU, Russia met to discuss partnership
Progress was also achieved in talks on the EU-Russia Modernization Partnership. Ahead of the summit, representatives of the parts had agreed on a comprehensive first Progress Report on the issue, as well as a Workplan on activities and projects.
