Russia hopes for breakthrough in EU relations
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday welcomed the top leaders of the European Union to this year’s first Russia-EU summit in Rostov-on-Don, southern Russia. The summit could result in a new Framework Agreement being signed by the parts.
According to the website of the Spanish EU chairmanship, both parts aim to sign a new framework agreement in today’s meetings between President Medvedev and the top Union leaders.
The new agreement would replace the former cooperation agreement which expired in 2007 and thus mark the start of a possible new period in relations.
“Broadly speaking, the backbone of the agreement is already in place. We have reached a consensus on certain articles. The most progress has been made with regard to justice and home affairs matters, where we are 90 per cent in agreement’, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, Alexander Grushko said.
The Russian Foreign Ministry also believes the summit could be a breakthrough in talks on visa-free travel. As reported by RIA Novosti, Grushko expects progress on the issue “in the very near future”.
EU officials meanwhile have sought to reduce expectations on visa issues ahead of tomorrow’s meetings. As reported by BarentsObserver, the Union’s top representative in Moscow, Ambassador Fernando Valenzuela, in a newspaper interview maintained that “no concrete dates will be announced in Rostov” and that the meeting rather with “settle and define the objectives”.
Also the Partnership for Modernisation could become the main issue at the summit. Russia sees the partnership as a way of attracting technology and know-how and diversifying its economy. However, the contents of the partnership is far from clear. Brussels stresses that modernisation does not refer exclusively to industry, but also to the development of society, and it will need to have a special role with regard to justice and democracy, the Spain’s EU chairmanship website reports.
