13 January 2003 00:00
ARTICLE BY RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER IGOR IVANOV PUBLISHED BY THE NEWSPAPER IZVESTIA UNDER THE TITLE "ASSOCIATION OR DISSOCIATION? WILL NEW BARRIERS APPEAR IN A UNITED EUROPE?" ON JANUARY 11, 2003.
The occasion that prompted this article was the recent jubilee of the document which is universally recognized to have played a historic role in building partnership relations between the new Russia and the united Europe. The document is the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement between the Russian Federation and the European Union (PCA) signed by the first President of the Russian Federation Boris Yeltsin on the Island of Corfu in 1994 which came into force after its ratification in December 1997. In the five years that followed, the Agreement has provided the legal basis for our growing relationships with the EU. It is sometimes suggested that the Agreement is beginning to lag behind our cooperation and needs to be enlarged or generally "updated". It apparently makes sense to discuss these topics with our European colleagues and partners, for example, at the upcoming Russia-EU summit to be held in St. Petersburg in May 2003.
European Choice
It is not the question of the document as such, but the new realities of the surrounding world. Speaking about the European track, we see the emergence of a new Russia and a new Europe. And the processes we are witnessing are unprecedented.
In a certain sense Europe has always been united and Russia has always been part of it. But for the first time in the history of the continent, the European states are being cemented ever more strongly by common democratic and economic principles. A consensus has emerged among the countries and peoples of Europe in favor of maintaining and strengthening security, stability and prosperity of the continent, of ridding it of crises and upheavals, creating a common social-economic, legal, scientific and ecological space.
In addressing these tasks Russia sees the European Union as a strategic partner. Now and in the future the EU will be our key trade and political partner. After the expansion of the European Union its countries will account for more than 50 percent of Russian trade. The Union is exerting a steadily growing influence as a world power center.
EU Enlargement: a Plus or a Minus?
So much for political strategy. As for day-to-day reality and concrete Russian interests, there is a complicated range of questions connected with the forthcoming enlargement of the European Union in the wake of the official decision to the effect taken at the European Union summit in Copenhagen on December 2. The admission to the EU of ten new members brings new elements to our relations not only with the European Union itself, but with individual Central and East European countries.
The crux of the matter as far as the Russian side is concerned is that the process of EU enlargement should not recreate any dividing lines and worsen the economic position of Russia in the markets of the countries that are joining the European Union. That would be counterproductive both for Russia and for the United Europe and for all the Europeans.
On the whole, economic cooperation between Russia and the EU has been making good headway in recent years. This applies above all to the long-term energy dialogue. Work continues jointly with the EU to develop a concept of the common European economic space. Cooperation in the field of science and technologies, outer space and communications is developing on a mutually beneficial basis.
But there is another side to the matter: a whole range of issues in the sphere of our trade and economic relations that directly affect our entrepreneurs and ordinary citizens remain to be regulated. These include anti-dumping procedures against Russian exporters, quantitative and other restrictions on the supply of some Russian goods to the European Union market. Mutually beneficial terms have yet to be found for the entry of Russia into the WTO. Our partners, of course, also have their concerns. But the question is less about who is worried about what as about how quickly and effectively all these problems are addressed.
Thanks to the persistent position of the Russian side, the May 2002 Russia-EU summit in Moscow produced an agreement of the European Union to fully recognize the market status of the Russian economy which was later officially confirmed. That fundamental decision has a direct relevance to Russian exports to the countries of the European Union. It is important, however, that this recognition should "work" in practice, in particular as regards anti-dumping procedures against Russian suppliers.
Freedom of Movement as a Principle and a Reality
But Russia is not only its businessmen. And the attitude of the Russian public to Europe is not only a question of tariffs or prices. We see that the enlargement of the Shengen zone by taking in new EU members, the tightening of the regime of its external borders objectively create additional barriers, in the near term, for free movement, especially free communication of people on the continent. And that is a human rights issue.
The problem of life support of the Kaliningrad region put our relations with the European Union to a serious test. The expansion of the EU turns this Russian region into an "exclave" within the European Union. In spite of profound differences of Russian and EU approaches to the "Kaliningrad transit" issue, joint efforts have resulted in a difficult, but acceptable compromise at the last Russia-EU summit held in Brussels in November 2002. As we see, the mechanisms of our relations with the European Union have reached a level of maturity that makes it possible to solve even such complicated problems in a constructive way. And if so, given good will, any, even the most difficult issues, can be settled. The main task now is to achieve full and proper compliance with the decisions on the Kaliningrad region.
In fact, Kaliningrad is only a part of a large and serious issue. The problem of illegal migration obviously faces both the united Europe and Russia. It can only be solved by common efforts. Freedom of movement within the Shengen territory creates more and more problems for ordinary Russian citizens. So, Shengen is found to contradict one of the fundamental freedoms proclaimed by the founding fathers of the United Europe, freedom of movement. Russia expects that its European Union partners will at an early date sit down at the negotiating table to discuss President Putin's proposal on transition to a visaless regime of travel between Russia and the EU in the future.
Obviously, this is a complicated and many-sided task that will call for considerable outlays and the settlement of a multitude of legal and organizational issues, above all, intensified control of the external Russian borders. But progress on this particular issue, in our opinion, will provide a litmus test that will clearly show to ordinary Russian and European Union citizens that a united Europe without new dividing lines is not a political slogan or a diplomatic cliche, but a reality that can be achieved.
Dialogue of Like-Thinking People
I have noted on more than one occasion that in spite of serious debates on certain issues we and the Europeans understand each other better and better and as a rule speak the same language. This is because the interests of Russia and the EU coincide on a whole range of common problems such as the fight against international terrorism, transborder crime and drug trafficking.
The same holds for the more acute issues in international politics such as Iraq, the Middle East, Afghanistan and the Balkans. Special note should be made of the prospects of our interaction in the context of the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the EU and the European Security and Defense Policy. There are major opportunities for joint humanitarian and search-and-rescue operations. Ever more interesting prospects are opening up for joint participation of Russia and the European Union in the prevention and settlement of local conflicts and peacekeeping operations in accordance with the fundamental principles of international law.
Obviously, Russia and the EU are natural allies in the search for adequate responses to the new threats and challenges both in Europe and in the whole world. Interaction in combating international terrorism is moving to the top of the agenda of Russian-European relations. And there, Russia is entitled to greater understanding on the part of the United Europe. It is necessary to create a common political and legal field of intolerance of any manifestations of that global evil. In combating the threat of terrorism, one cannot proceed solely on the basis of the premises of the liberal-humanistic philosophy, for it is a question of the life and security of hundreds of thousands and even millions of people. There should be no place in Europe or in the world where terrorists feel free and are given succor. Our dynamically growing cooperation with the EU at the level of law-enforcement bodies is geared to the solution of that task. An example in point is the meetings of Russian and European Union interior and justice ministers held in the spring and summer of 2002.
The Interests of People Should Come First
But to go back to the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement between Russia and the EU. The structures of our interaction with the European Union were formed in the mid-1990s when our dialogue was not as diverse and active as today. As a result, many problems often have to be solved at the highest political level. You would agree that this is not the best way to achieve compromises in the relations between states. So, the existing mechanisms of cooperation should be renewed and made more effective.
The time has come to shift our many-sided dialogue with the European Union to a totally pragmatic sphere, as should be the case between partners who are equal, who know each other well and trust each other. We have left behind us the period when basic political declarations were important and we have reached a stage in our relations when it is normal and natural to speak about one's benefits, to count one's money and in general tackle a multitude of day-to-day issues.
This should be the direction in "modernizing" the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement. In our view, it should be above all aimed at protecting the legitimate interests of ordinary citizens who would like to see a maximum of rapprochement on the European continent.
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