EU-Russia Summit

The regular EU-Russia Summit took place in London on October 4. “Development of the four common spaces, including loosening of the visa requirements, joint struggle with terrorism and drug traffic and the issues of nuclear weapons non-proliferation, among others, through Iran, became the main topics for the discussion between top decision-makers of the EU and Moscow representatives” (“Rossiyskaya gazeta” newspaper, 5.10.2005). The talks as such took place in private. It is known, however, that “next to Putin at the table sat Sergey Lavrov, head of the Foreign Ministry, Sergei Yasrtzhembsky, Presidential Aide on the EU affairs, Igor Levitin and German Gref, Ministers of Transport and Economic Development. The other discussion party consisted of Tony Blair, European Commission Chairman Jose Manuel Barroso and International Affairs Commissioner Xavier Solana” (“Gazeta.ru”, 5.10.2005).

No documents have been signed at the summit, but the politicians agreed on the issues that recently seemed impossible to resolve. In particular, “ Russia dropped its tough and hardly explicable stance on readmission” and agreed to “incur the costs of transportation of the persons from third countries if they got to the EU illegally through Russia.” In exchange, “a cross-agreement on the relief of the procedure for obtaining visas for entry in the EU was achieved. It covers students, researchers, entrepreneurs, politicians and diplomats” (“Vremya Novostey” newspaper, 5.11.2005). Presidential A id Sergei Yastrzhembsky advised that “agreements on visa relief and readmission between Russia and the EU will be signed before the end of 2005. According to him, the expert work on those issues is “essentially complete”. At the same time, Vladimir Chizhov, RF Permanent Representative to the European Communities stated that Russia and EU have virtually achieved the agreement on the single visa cost for Russians both in the Schengen zone and the entire European Union. According to him, the standard charge for visa will make about 35 Euros” (“Lenta.ru”, 4.10.2005).

Leaders of both European Union and Russia commented willingly on the achieved agreements. “Both Vladimir Putin and European Commission Chairman Jose Manuel Barroso stressed that the agreements are one of the stages in the process towards an ultimate goal of establishing visa-free regime between Russia and the EU” (“Vremya Novostey” newspaper, 5.10.2005). “We can say that our disputes had to do with the visa treatment. An agreement is achieved that encompasses also the people leaving the country with a diplomatic passport. The final purpose, however, is to achieve a complete freedom of movement of citizens between Russia and the EU,” Head of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso announced cheerfully. “We did, however, also reach the agreements on readmission of illegal aliens arriving to the EU from Russia. We have made a good progress along those lines” (“Rosbalt” Information Agency, 6.10.2005). In turn, Vladimir Putin remarked that “it was an important, realistic and practicable step towards implementation of the plans agreed upon earlier. We are all proceeding from the assumption that there should be no dividing lines in Europe, yet we do understand that a lot is still to be done on both sides to transfer to the visa-free treatment. … It is hard to identify the final deadline for the conversion to the visa-free mode. I am gratified to admit, however, that none of my colleagues object to the fact that this is our ultimate goal” (“Lenta.ru”, 4.10.2005). The President of Russia emphasised that “all realists understand that, in all likelihood, the agreement will not be signed promptly. The possible term mentioned varies from 8 to 10 years, because such document should be ratified by all the participating EU states, i.e. 25 countries” (“Noviye Izvestiya” newspaper, 5.10.2005).

One of the main topics of the summit was also the cooperation between the EU and Russia in the energy sector. As British Prime Minister Tony Blair stressed, “the EU counts on the continued supply of fuel by Russia. In the opinion of the British Prime Minister, such supply is determined by mutual interest. Putin confirmed that both Russia and the EU were interested in the development of the energy dialogue while highlighting that Russia is continuously enhancing the oil production and increasing the supply to the world markets helping the entire global economy including the European one to develop in a normal way. … “ Russia is a reliable partner that has never let down its European counterparts,” emphasised Putin” (“Lenta.ru”, 5.10.2005). Sergei Lavrov, Head of the Russian Foreign Ministry, stated that “development of the energy dialogue with our main partners is taking concrete shape, among others, through North European Gas Pipeline project and involvement of all the interested countries in that process” (“Trud” newspaper, 5.10.2005). Andris Piebalgs, the European Commissioner for Energy, identified one more trend in the energy sector cooperation between Russia and the European Union: “The EU should encourage investment in Russia’s economy so as to accelerate the implementation of state-of-the-art technologies and provide for the reform of its energy sector” (“ITAR-TASS” news agency, 3.10.2005).

Special interest in the UK was stirred by the prospects of loosing Europe’s energy independence through being confined more and more to the energy resource supply from Russia. In particular, “one of the British journalists asked Tony Blair a question at the press conference whether Europe lost its energy independence so profoundly as to stop asking Moscow questions of principle, for example, about the situation in Chechnya” (“Vremya Novostey” newspaper, 5.10.2005). In reply, the British Premier said: “We are talking frankly about everything, no one depends on each other: neither do we depend on Russia, nor does Russia on us; among other, we spoke about Chechnya” (“Gazeta.ru”, 5.10.2005). In turn, Vladimir Putin emphasised that “the rumours about loss of energy independence are highly exaggerated” (“Vremya Novostey” newspaper, 5.10.2005).

On the whole, both sides positively assessed the outputs of the Summit. “It has become evident once again today to me and my European colleagues how important are the relations with Russia for our future and our security,” stressed Tony Blair. … “The outputs of the London Summit have proven that we are consistently reinforcing our partnership and adding to it new content and quality,” stated Vladimir Putin. “I am firmly convinced in the success of our joint efforts” (“Lenta.ru”, 5.10.2005).

The first woman in the office of German Chancellor

On October 10, three weeks after the parliamentary elections that lead to a serious government crisis, the period of complete political uncertainty in Germany came to an end. “After long talks between the leaders of German Christian Democrats and Social Democrats it has been announced that Angela Merkel, the CDU leader, is to become the new Chancellor of Germany. SPD has renounced its claims for the position of the Chancellor in the framework of a “larger coalition”. In exchange, it was promised the majority of ministerial positions” (“Kommersant” newspaper, 11.10.2005). “Social democrats will get the key positions, the ones of foreign affairs, finance, justice and labour ministers. On the whole, eight ministerial chairs. Two more, than the right-wing CDU/CSU block” (“Izvestia” newspaper, 11.10.2005).

In the course of two days, October 9 and 10, Berlin hosted “private meetings attended by SPD Chairman Franz Muentefering, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, CDU Chairman Angela Merkel, and Bavarian CSU Chairman Edmund Steuber. As a result, the parties came to an agreement that the designee for the head of the new cabinet will be identified by the strongest Bundestag faction, i.e. CDU/CSU being ahead of Social Democrats by four mandates. … Contrary to the long guess-work, Gerhard Schroeder will not become a member of the “black-red” coalition. “My further course in life looks differently,” as he was quoted to the press by the participants of the Sunday meeting on the part of CDU/CSU. … For the first time in the German history the office of Chancellor will be held by a woman. Merkel will be the second woman after Margaret Thatcher to lead a European power and a G8 member” (“Nezavisimaya gazeta” newspaper, 11.10.2005).

The news from Germany sparked lively comment by the politicians both from Russia and the European Union. The Russian State Duma speaker Boris Gryzlov stated that “coming to power of Christian Democrats in Germany will not have a negative impact on the development of Russian-German relations. They are on such a level that no changes either on the level of parliament or national decision-makers will affect their positive development” (“Gazeta.ru”, 11.10.2005). Elmar Brok, Head of the European Parliament Committee for International Affairs also expressed the hope that “the new German Government and its new Chancellor will maintain very good relations with Russia not only for economic, but also for political and strategic reasons”. At the same time, he mentioned that Russia, on its part, should take account of the fact that “in future Germany will act more like a EU member” (“RIA Novosti”, 11.10.1005).

Xavier Solana, European Union High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy and Jaap de Hoop Sheffer, NATO Secretary-General were one of the first to congratulate the new Chancellor. “Solana wished success to the CDU leader and the new German Government. Furthermore, he stressed that he knew Merkel well and appreciated her professional qualities. NATO Secretary General, in turn, stressed the importance of the fact that Angela Merkel would be the first woman in the history of the FRG to occupy the office of Chancellor. … British Premier Tony Blair joined the greetings of his EU and North Atlantic block colleagues. According to Associated Press, the British Premier spoke with Merkel on the phone for 15 minutes and expressed the hope for “mutually beneficial cooperation with the new German Government once it is formed”. … Merkel also accepted congratulations from France. According to AFP, French leader Jacques Chirac in the telephone conversation with Merkel has firstly expressed his belief that she could animate the contacts between the two countries. After that, Philippe Douste-Blazy, the French Foreign Minister expressed his satisfaction with the fact that the period of uncertainty in Germany was finished. The head of the French Foreign Ministry mentioned that France was the closest partner of Germany and that extension of Europe was impossible without their cooperation” (“Gazeta.ru”, 11.10.2005).