WORLD> Europe
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WORLD> Europe
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EU ministers give go-ahead for talks with Russia
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-05-26 20:27 "The negotiations will certainly not be easy... I think they will take quite some time," she said. The EU and Russia hold summits and working group discussions twice a year but the bilateral accord is based on a deal reached in 1997 when Russia was still in convalescence following the break-up of the Soviet Union. Since then Russia has regained its stature while the EU has expanded into Moscow's former eastern European stronghold. However as Russia has rebounded, thanks in part to its massive oil and natural gas reserves, tensions with Europe have multiplied. A particular area for concern for Lithuania and others was Russia's announcement last month that it was establishing formal ties with Georgia's two separatist regions, even though it claims to recognise Georgia's territorial integrity."We have found new language which I think now satisfies everybody. We are all concerned about Georgia... all concerned about frozen conflicts," said Slovenia's Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency. The European states have become increasingly concerned at their dependence on Russian fossil fuels and Moscow's ability to turn off the taps as a political manoeuvre. "The existing accord states that we share the same democratic values. It remains to be seen whether this will still be the case in the new deal," Eneko Landaburu, who will lead the EU negotiators in the talks, said last week. |
