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RUSSIA-EU RELATIONS. THE PROSPECTS FOR THE NEW PARTNERSHIP AND COOPERATION AGREEMENT
KONSTANTIN KOSACHEV,
Chairman of the International Affairs Committee, Russia's State Duma, Moscow
A recent Russia-EU summit in Khanty-Mansiysk (June 26-27, 2008) characterized the beginning of a completely new stage of our relations. The patterns of these relations were formulated in early 1990s and they are out of date now. The European Union did not understand quite well the importance of the ties with Russia for its own development 10-15 years ago. The Russian Federation did not realize its strategic interests in the united Europe in that period either. And in this sense the new Russia-EU agreement will be completely different at least in two cases.
First of all, it should be a treaty of two equal partners. It is not expressed in the current Partnership and Cooperation Agreement in full measure, though this point always existed on a declarative level, of course. This document was signed in 1994, when many in Russia romantically thought about the possible Russia’s accession to the EU in near future. Some European politicians did not exclude such an opportunity either. That’s why the Agreement looked like a document signed by the potential EU member and the organization, which would examine its application.
The most vivid example is the article 100 of the Agreement, which obliges Russia to harmonize its national legislation with the EU legal norms. This is not the way of collaboration of two equal partners. It is why this article remained on paper. Sure, Russia is modernizing its legislation and is approaching the European legal standards, but we are not guided by Europe in that case.
The second distinction of the new treaty will be the fact that both parties are developing a market economy now. Russia was not recognized to be a country with the free market in 1994, but now it is. Strange as it may seem, the new agreement will have much less economic aspects than the old one. When the negotiations with the EU are over, Russia will already be a member of the WTO. It will be unnecessary to include about 70% of current economic arrangements into the new agreement. Thus, I think, the new document will first of all touch upon the questions of national and international security, education, culture and human rights. However, the key points of our economic cooperation, like the energy security, will sure be mentioned.
Speaking about the prospects for the talks on the new treaty, I would like to be wrong, but I think they will take a substantial amount of time. Now Russia has to negotiate with 27 EU members, not 12 as in 1994. And there is a qualitative change. The EU now includes a lot of countries, which have the very special relations with Russia. It took the parties a lot of time to start the negotiations. I think that no one is insured against the artificial exaggeration of the problems by some countries.
Anyway, we hope that during the negotiations the European Commission will be a united and reliable partner, and the current positive trends in our relations will prevail over the overweighed contradictions. For example, the agreement on the simplification of the visa procedure for some groups of citizens operates quite successfully. Those who were afraid of mass violation of the migration rules happened to be wrong – there were no serious problems. It confirms that Russia and the EU are ready to full visa cancellation in the next few years. Sure, it will demand some additional efforts from Russia, but the negotiations are being held.
The material is based on Konstantin KOSACHEV’s speech in Russian News and Information Agency RIA Novosti during the Moscow - Vienna video press conference "EU-Russia relations. The prospects for the new Partnership and Cooperation Agreement", on July 7, 2008.
July 8, 2008
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