New strategy for relations with Russia

Date: 13/05/1999

By Simon Taylor

EU GOVERNMENTS are set to agree new common guidelines for dealing with Russia, as they strive to promote greater economic stability and democracy in the former superpower.

But the new framework, which comes at a time when the Union's relations with Moscow are at an all-time low because of the NATO airstrikes in Serbia, has been criticised for lacking ambition.

Tom Spencer, chairman of the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee, said it underlined the "intellectual vacuum" in EU governments' thinking on Russia.

A paper outlining the new approach, which is due to be approved by foreign ministers next Monday (17 May) before being formally adopted by Union leaders at next month's Cologne summit, sets out a framework for relations with Russia to encourage a "stable, open and pluralistic democracy" and a "prosperous market economy".

EU officials have stressed the importance of the initiative as a way of coordinating 15 governments' programmes.

They defend the lack of innovation in the document on the grounds that it has to be based on a series of existing initiatives such as the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA). They also point to a number of key proposals in the paper, including plans for a high-level economic dialogue, the possibility of an EU-Russian forum for foreign policy and security, and initiatives on nuclear non-proliferation, twinning schemes for officials and student exchanges.

Spencer had initially called for adoption of the new strategy to be delayed in light of the situation in Kosovo. But Moscow has warned against this, insisting that it would not be in the interests of either Russia or the Union.