Russia, EU to unveil partnership accord at summit

Russia and the European Union are expected to unveil a broad-ranging partnership accord at a summit on Tuesday that represents an attempt to reinvigorate relations after a troubled year.

As the bloc swelled last year with eight new members from the former Soviet Union, the EU’s policy is seen to have become more assertive vis a vis Russia.

The meeting in Moscow is the first since a stormy summit last autumn at The Hague, when Russia accused the EU of fomenting street protests in Ukraine and partnership negotiations fell apart.

EU officials say they do not want another breakdown and are ready to sign a less-than-perfect accord, hoping to nail down outstanding issues in the months ahead.

The partnership should benefit both sides: The EU will get a forum to launch economic co-operation with an energy-rich partner that is hungry for western investment.

Yet the agreement to be signed on Tuesday comes against the backdrop of a lingering EU-Russia perception gap.

“Many Russian leaders now view the EU as a hostile power that is expanding into Russia’s traditional sphere of influence,” says Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Research, a London think-tank, in a recent paper on the EU’s relations with its eastern neighbours.

“The EU, meanwhile, has become increasingly concerned about Russia’s eroding democratic standards and weak regard for human rights.”

In a statement prior to Tuesday’s summit, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said he wants relations to be taken to a “new and higher level.”

Barroso is hoping the signing of a long-delayed partnership accord, setting out four “common spaces” between Russia and the 25-member bloc, will provide the necessary momentum.

The wide-ranging pact encompasses security, economic and humanitarian issues and aims to enhance co-operation in transport, energy and regional conflict resolution as well as harmonising legal standards and promoting trade and investment.

Until recently, EU officials said they were far from a partnership deal. On the eve of the signing ceremony, key disputes remained but the West Europeans insisted they will be ironed out in the months ahead.

One difference is over Russia’s demand for visa-free travel. The EU will only agree to that if Russia takes back Russian nationals and others who entered the EU illegally from Russia. Also, the EU wants Russia to phase out Siberia overflight charges that West European airlines now pay to Moscow.

The partnership 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 co-operation on investments, financial services, telecommunications, transport, energy and the environment.

The EU also plans programmes to foster democracy, the rule of law, human rights, an independent judiciary and media and co-operation on combating terrorism, organised crime and corruption.

The EU is particularly interested in assisting Russia to end “frozen conflicts” in the former Soviet region – Trans-Dniester in Moldova, Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia, Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan – by taking humanitarian and economic aid to those regions, and to tackle poverty and human rights abuses there that the EU sees as causes of instability.