EU, Russia completing toughest areas of long-delayed partnership deal
By ROBERT WIELAARD
AP Worldstream
May 03, 2005
“The EU is ready to work in partnership with Russia to achieve our
common goals,” European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said
Tuesday as final negotiations began.
Officials sounded confident a deal could be reached Wednesday enabling
the partnership to be signed, even though politically touchy areas
may be left fuzzy, to be fine-tuned later.
These include visa requirements for Russians and _ a closely related
issue in the EU’s view _ Moscow’s readiness to take back Russians now
illegally in Western Europe. The EU also wants Moscow to promise not
to pressure ex-soviet republics into pledging loyalty to Russia.
The EU is pursuing broad cooperation accords with all its neighbors
and has granted Moscow’s request for a special “partnership” deal to
reflect its status as a global power. But the bloc has been struggling
to get Moscow to agree on the detail of the pact.
The draft accord covers cooperation in four main areas: the economy,
external security, justice and cultural affairs.
At a summit in the Netherlands last November _ overshadowed by unrest
in Ukraine that later saw a pro-Western government take office in
Kiev _ no agreement was reached on “external security” issues.
These touch on Russian relations with Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus and
the Caucasus republics, areas of “frozen conflicts” that the EU wants
to see resolved in line with Russia’s commitments on human rights
and issues.
“There can be no move (by Moscow) to set up new ‘spheres of
interest.’ There can be no claim to any near-abroad,” said an EU
diplomat who briefed reporters on the final negotiations. He spoke
on condition his name not be used.
The “near-abroad” is Moscow’s term for the Commonwealth of Independent
States, a loose grouping of 12 former Soviet republics that Moscow
created in 1991 after the breakup of the Soviet Union. It was looking
for a forum of cooperation but that bid has been hamstrung by regional
squabbles and fears of Russian domination.
Apart from Russia, the CIS comprises Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine,
Uzbekistan and Belarus _ countries with which the EU seeks closer ties.
This has rankled with Russia, which sees the EU poaching its
neighbors. Last year, eight East European nations joined the EU.
Through the partnership deal with Russia, the EU aims to craft a
single EU-Russian market with no barriers to trade and to introduce
economic reforms, competitiveness and good economic governance in
Russia. It also wants more cooperation on investments, financial
services, telecommunications, transport, energy and the environment.
The EU also wants to get Moscow to sign “readmission” accords to
take back Russians and others who enter the EU illegally from Russia.
Under the pact, Moscow must accept visas for EU-bound Russians with
visa-free travel a “long-term perspective.” The EU also plans programs
to foster democracy, the rule of law, human rights, an independent
judiciary and media and cooperation on combating terrorism, organized
crime and corruption.
The EU seeks enhanced cooperation to end “frozen conflicts” in
Trans-Dniester, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Nagorno-Karabakh by taking
humanitarian and economic aid to those regions and tackle poverty and
human rights abuses there that the EU sees as causes of instability.
Increased educational and cultural exchanges, as well as strengthened
joint research projects are also goals.