BNS: EU gives green light to launch Russia talks
Updated 2008-05-21
Countries of the European Union (EU) agreed Wednesday in Brussels to commence negotiations on the Strategic Partnership Agreement with Russia, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Petras Vaitiekunas confirmed.
He noted that all Lithuanian requirements had been taken into consideration, put in writing in the mandate and would be proposed to Russia.
"The consensus and endorsement reached at the ambassadorial council earlier today that the mandate should be validated without further negotiations on Monday is an important and significant step, but the final say lies with the ministers in Brussels next Monday. Afterwards, there will be difficult talks with Russia, and after the agreement with Russia on the treaty is in place, there will be a long process of implementation of the treaty. This is the first step in the long road," the foreign minister said after the government's meeting, adding that there was still a slight probability that some minister would make proposals on Monday to "improve the mandate."
At the same time, Vaitiekunas shed some light on the diplomatic negotiations, noting that the use of words in politics was not always in keeping with semantic and linguistic rules.
"The biggest discussions were on the frozen conflicts in Georgia and Moldova. In the Moldovan case, the negotiations stalled on a single word -
whether the talks should be resumed or started anew," he said.
Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas restated that all Lithuanian requirements had been included in the mandate. He described the agreement reached a victory of the Lithuanian diplomacy.
"This is a serious victory of the Lithuanian diplomacy. Somebody may not like it but it is another issue. The issues Lithuania wanted in the mandate
are vital to us, particularly the energy, and particularly in this situation. Some parties holding the monopoly of patriotism are disappointed
in the results, however, I hope Lithuania is not disappointed," said Kirkilas.
The agreement is pending formal approval, anticipated to be granted at the time of the EU Foreign Ministers meeting of May 26.
Lithuania blocked the commencement of talks with Russia at the end of April, proposing to include four declarations in the negotiations mandate,i.e. the issue of cut-off oil supply via the Druzhba pipeline, the necessity to deal with frozen conflicts in Georgia and Moldova, cooperation in solving occurrences of Jan. 13 and the Medininkai massacre as well as support for exiled persons, who are returning to the three Baltic States.
Foreign ministers of Lithuania, Sweden, Poland and current EU presidency holder Slovenia, decided later in a meeting in Vilnius to include issues brought up by Lithuania in talks with Russia, however this agreement was not endorsed by ambassadors of EU member states in a meeting Tuesday.
