EU tensions ahead of Russian summit

Tensions within the European Union over how to deal with an increasingly assertive Russia have boiled over just days before a summit with President Vladimir Putin, as new EU member states step up their campaign for a tougher line.

At a bad tempered meeting of EU ambassadors in Brussels last week, Lithuania blocked plans to begin wide-ranging negotiations with Moscow, provoking a furious response from ­Germany, which holds the EU's rotating presidency.

The talks had already been vetoed by Poland because of a dispute over a Russian ban on imports of Polish food products. Lithuania, however, said it would be unwilling to go ahead with the negotiations for a broader range of reasons.

At previous summits the EU and Russia have used a joint declaration to underline areas of agreement. But there are no plans to issue such a declaration at Friday's summit in the Russian town of Samara, which will be attended by Angela Merkel, German chancellor, and José Manuel Barroso, European Commission president.

"Things are really bad," said one EU official, referring to relations with Russia. "We should not try to disguise that fact by pretending to reach agreements – it's better to have no results."

Diplomats at the ambassadors' meeting in Brussels said that Wilhelm Schoenfelder, Germany's ambassador, repeatedly asked the Lithuanians what they sought to gain by blocking the negotiations with Russia, intended to cover a range of topics from energy and trade to human rights.

Since joining the EU in May 2004, ex-communist countries such as Poland and Lithuania have sought to convince the bloc to move from its traditional line – set by big member states such as France, Germany and Italy – of giving priority to warm relations with Moscow.

"In present circumstances it is meaningless to go ahead with these negotiations," a senior Lithuanian official told the Financial Times. "We have to use this summit to get some tangible results from the Russians rather than look for strategic partnerships without clear content or negotiations for negotiations' sake."

He said that Moscow's more confrontational approach in recent months had shifted the centre of gravity within the EU debate, reducing the pressure on countries such as Poland to give the go-ahead to the talks.

The latest change will come this week, when Nicolas Sarkozy replaces Jacques Chirac as French president. Many EU officials expect Mr Sarkozy to take a more robust line towards the Kremlin.

Tensions with Moscow have already been heightened by a Russian dispute with Estonia, during which Russian protesters surrounded Estonia's embassy in Moscow and rail links between the two countries were interrupted. Lithuania also complains that Russia has cut off supplies to a power station for 10 months.

Russia maintains that the Polish products are insanitary, that Estonia committed a "blasphemy" by moving a Soviet-era war memorial and that necessary repairs mean that an oil pipeline to Lithuania has had to be cut off.

Janez Jansa, prime minister of Slovenia, who attended talks in Portugal with Ms Merkel and Mr Barroso, told the FT that the German leader and Mr Sarkozy would help achieve EU unity on Russia. But he added: "It will take some time for this fact to be realised in Moscow."

(2007-05-14) Daniel Dombey & Fidelius Schmid
Source: The Financial Times
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This article was submited by Zbigniew P. Szczęsny

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