Ferrero-Waldner: The Constitution Decides Who Decides
// The European Commissioner for External Relations tells Kommersant about the future of Russia and Europe
The Russia – European Union summit will take place at the end of this month in Khanty-Mansiisk. The long-awaited negotiations on an agreement on partnership and cooperation are expected to begin then. As part of the preparations for the summit, EU Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner has come to Moscow for meetings with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavorv and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin. The commissioner shares her impressions from the meetings with Kommersant correspondent Vyacheslav Leonov.
What can we expect at the summit in Khanty-Mansiisk?
I consider the upcoming meeting extremely important. First, it will be the first such event with the participation of new Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Second, as I imagine it, negotiations will finally begin at the summit on a new agreement on partnership and cooperation, which should give our relations new impetus.
Now we have a full mandate to hold these negotiations [after Poland and Lithuania dropped their objections] and, I assume, the first technical meeting as part of the negotiations will take place after the summit in Khanty-Mansiisk but before the summer vacation begins. The agreement should become the foundation for Russian-European relations for the foreseeable future and its provisions will have obligatory legal force for both sides in all the main fields of our cooperation.
How will the new agreement principally differ from the previous one?
First, it will be much broader and deeper. And in spite of the fact that it will mainly stretch across four so-called “common spaces” in our relations: economics, freedom, law and security, we should not forget about science, education and culture. Therefore, the agreement may be supplemented by separate sectoral agreements. There will also a special section concerning energy that will contain the principles spelled out in the Energy Charter. That especially concerns the transparency of cooperation and avoidance of discrimination.
You held a number of meetings in Moscow with high-placed Russian officials. What issues did you discuss, and what were the outcomes?
I had important meetings with Deputy Prime Minister Sechin, Foreign Minister Lavrov and a meeting with members of the Duma subcommittee on European cooperation, where I gave a speech and an interesting discussion followed. As for results, I would note a revitalization of our relations and clear understanding of exactly what questions will be key at the upcoming summit. We would all like to touch on global problems at that summit, like the financial, food and energy crisis and climate change. I would also like to note a renewal of interest in a full, equal partnership.
In Russia, they are noting a division of the EU into friends of Russia and its opponents. The former include France, Germany and Italy. The latter – Poland and the Baltic countries. What is that division connected with and can it be overcome?
I do not share that classification. You should see that all 27 member states in the European Union have reached a united agreement on the mandate for negotiations and unanimously decided that we need all-encompassing relations with Russia. That is what is really important, in my view. Russia is a strategic partner for all the EU, and that means all 27 states. In all areas. It is also absolutely clear that we are very closely tied one to the other, especially in the area of economics. Russia is our main energy supplier and we are the main area of energy sales for Russia. So we have extremely interdependent relations, and it is important that those relations be reliable.
How is it for the EU to work with Moscow when the country is led in tandem by Medvedev-Putin? Have they understood who makes the key decisions?
For a start, I would observe in jest that a new government usually needs 100 days before they start to analyze how it does things. But seriously, we are, of course, interested in developing our relations further and taking advantage of its full potential. What have we heard from Mr. Medvedev, whom I haven’t met personally yet, in the few interviews her has given to the Western press? He has spoken in favor of strengthening the role of the law in Russia and modernizing its economy. That is very important for us, because the EU is the natural partner of modernization. But whether the president or the prime minister decided key issues, that is a question for the Russian Constitution. We’ll see. In any case, we would like to increase the potential of our joint work.
Interview by Valery Leonov
All the Article in Russian as of June 06, 2008
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