- this has probably already been posted in some form here but here is the
st.pete times version:
Talks With EU Stall Due to Lithuanian Veto
http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=25803
MOSCOW/BRUSSELS - European Union efforts to agree a long-delayed mandate
for
partnership negotiations with Russia stalled again on Thursday despite a
prediction of imminent agreement from Luxembourg's prime minister.
Diplomats said Lithuania maintained its veto on starting the talks to
demand
assurances on energy supplies, cooperation over a missing businessman and
Russian movement on frozen conflicts in former Soviet republics.
Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker said in Moscow he expected
the
27-nation EU would overcome 18 months of internal divisions and agree to
start talks on a new partnership deal with Russia within days.
"I do know that in Poland, in Lithuania, maybe elsewhere, there are great
or
small reluctancies, but I think that these will be sorted out in the next
coming days," Juncker said in an interview before talks with Russian
President Vladimir Putin.
However, diplomats in Brussels said no progress was seen at a meeting of
EU
ambassadors on Thursday and there was scant prospect of the bloc's foreign
ministers breaking the deadlock when they meet next Tuesday.
"It could take until June," one EU diplomat said, predicting the mandate
may
be approved just in time for an EU-Russia summit with President-elect
Dmitry
Medvedev in Siberia on June 26-27.
Russia's ambassador to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, voiced concern last week
that the EU was allowing the negotiations to be taken hostage by new
member
states that were once Soviet satellites and bore a grudge against Moscow.
The negotiations, covering trade, economic development, energy, human
rights
and political cooperation, were due to have been launched in November 2006
but Poland vetoed the mandate after Moscow barred imports of fresh food
products from Warsaw.
Poland recently dropped its reservation after Russia lifted the embargo.
But Lithuania has widened its concerns from a cut-off of Russian oil
supplies to its refinery, to the disappearance of a businessman in the
Russian enclave of Kaliningrad and Russia's relations with the ex-Soviet
republics of Georgia and Moldova.
Juncker is the longest-serving prime minister within the EU and is
considered a crucial player amongst the exclusive club of 27 leaders. He
is
also the chairman of the euro-zone group of finance ministers.
"I do think that the European Union and Russia do need the strategic
partnership and I would like the negotiations to take a real start under
the
Slovenian presidency," Juncker said, referring to the current holder of
the
EU's rotating presidency.
Juncker said he had a good working relationship with Putin and had been
invited to meet his successor, Medvedev, who will be sworn in as Russian
President on May 7. Putin is expected to serve as his prime minister.
"My impression is Mr. Putin did a good job in the sense that he was
stabilizing Russia and the Russian state and I am among those who are
grateful to him for having done this," he said.
Medvedev said they must discuss both security issues and the new
partnership
deal.
"We live in a single, European home. We have much to talk about, both in
this area, on the question of signing a new agreement, and ensuring
European
security," Medvedev said.
When he then met Putin, Juncker said he believed in the importance of
linking Russia to Europe.
"I have always believed that Russia is a part of the European architecture
and I was always certain that we need a strategic partnership," Juncker
told
Putin.
"After my lengthy meeting with the president-elect, I am absolutely sure
there will be continuity in our relations."
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