News

Luxembourg, 13/10/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 13 October, the EU noted with satisfaction that Russian troops had withdrawn from areas adjacent to South Ossetia and Abkhazia before the 10 October deadline, but member states are still divided over the immediate conclusions the EU should draw, in particular with regard to resumption of talks with Russia on a new partnership agreement.

Following the General Affairs/External Relations Council in Luxembourg, it would seem unlikely that negotiations can be relaunched before the EU-Russian Summit in Nice on 14 November. The matter will be on the agenda of the European Council on Wednesday 15 and Thursday 16 October. On 1 September, the Extraordinary Summit in the crisis in Georgia decided to delay talks with Moscow “until Russian troops have withdrawn to the positions held prior to 7 August”.

The French Presidency of the EU, the High Representative Javier Solana and most member states feel that Russian has met its obligations and negotiations on the new agreement should begin without delay (the French Presidency even claims that no formal decision is needed to restart negotiations, but it is clear that the Commission will not convene a new negotiation meeting with the Russians until it has had the green light from Council).

However, at the meeting of Foreign Ministers on Monday, no fewer than seven delegations - Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the Czech Republic - expressed strong reservations over the immediate resumption of talks with Moscow. They believe that the withdrawal of Russian troops to zones adjacent to South Ossetia and Abkhazia is not enough to say that troops have withdrawn to their positions of before 7 August, in particular, since the number of Russian soldiers in the self-proclaimed independent republics has more than tripled since the armed conflict with Georgia in August, now standing at some 7,000 troops. These same states believe furthermore that it is necessary to show Moscow that, after the military incursion into Georgia, and the “illegal” Russian recognition of the two separatist regions, the EU cannot return to “business as usual”.

The ministers of the seven countries on Monday called for the EU not to act hastily and to wait at least to see two things before taking a decision on the partnership agreement: - the attitude of Russian at the international conference in Geneva (which begins on 15 October) on security and stability arrangements in South Ossetia and Abkhazia; - an in-depth study of EU-Russian relation which the European Commission has been charged with preparing by the European Council of 1 September.

This assessment will be presented at the next External Relations Council in November, a few days before the summit with Russia (on 14 November), said Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner. (H.B./transl.rt)