Energy cooperation to top EU-Russia summit agenda

India
Energy cooperation to top EU-Russia summit agenda
By DPA, Nov 23, 2006 - 10:34:22 PM

Brussels, Nov 23 (DPA) With Russian President Vladimir Putin set to attend a crucial summit with European Union (EU) leaders in Helsinki on Nov 24, diplomats from the 25-nation bloc are hoping to forge a united EU front on relations with Moscow.

The EU's current focus is on coaxing Poland to drop its veto on opening talks on a new energy-focused partnership agreement with Russia, long touted as the key item on the summit agenda.

Warsaw says its go-ahead on the negotiations is conditional on an end to a 12-month old Russian ban on imports of Polish meat and plants.

But although Poland's hardline stance has been assailed by other EU states, Warsaw's line highlights a wider EU split over how to manage relations with Russia, Europe's leading energy supplier.

EU newcomers from formerly communist eastern Europe are pressing for a more critical approach towards Moscow.

However, Britain, France and Germany, among others, have often claimed to have a 'special relationship' with Putin.

Skilfully exploiting such European divisions, Russia has clinched bilateral gas supply deals with several EU countries, including Germany, prompting concern in Poland and the Baltic states.

The meeting in Helsinki, organised by the current Finnish EU presidency, is expected to launch talks on a new broad-based EU-Russia cooperation agreement, including EU demands for better access to Russia's vast oil and gas resources.

EU officials have said that the new pact must include a Russian market-opening pledge as well as provisions for fair and non-discriminatory access to transport networks, including for transit purposes.

Russia is a 'key strategic partner' for the bloc, according to EU officials including European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

EU states depend on Russia for 25 percent of their natural gas requirements and Moscow is also the bloc's second largest source of crude oil. With European energy consumption rising fast, this reliance could grow even further.

Increasingly, however, wary EU policymakers view Russia's use of its energy resources as a political tool to put pressure on its former satellite countries such as Georgia and Ukraine.

EU foreign and security policy chief Javier Solana warned recently that energy-producing nations were using their resources 'overtly as a geo-political matter'.

Solana did not explicitly mention Russia but warned that 'sitting on huge reserves of oil and gas gives some difficult regimes a trump card. They can use energy revenues for purposes, which we may find problematic'.

Energy issues rocketed to the top of the EU agenda earlier this year following a brief suspension of Russian gas supplies to Ukraine, a move that triggered energy shortages in parts of western Europe.

Russia and the EU are also working to step up cooperation in areas such as economics, security, foreign policy and research.

A new partnership deal would take EU-Russia relations 'to a new level of intensity' and provide for more legal security when dealing with Russia, EU officials have said.

But others are not so sure. Katinka Barysch, chief economist at the London-based Centre for European Reform, argued that the EU should go slow on seeking to clinch a comprehensive new deal until the two sides had developed more mutual trust.

For the moment, the focus should be on making the existing EU-Russia agreement work better and focusing on energy and human rights, she said.

Moscow's human rights record and its bullying of neighbouring countries are other contentious issues for many in Europe.

Human rights group Amnesty International warned recently that Russian security officials were regularly subjecting detainees to beatings, rape and torture.

Freedom House, an independent body dedicated to promoting democratisation and freedom, has said it wants to see the EU use Friday's talks to condemn crackdowns by Russian authorities against those advocating human rights in Chechnya.

'If Russia's government is not transparent and accountable to its own people, it will not be a reliable energy and business partner for Europe now or in the future,' cautioned Freedom House executive director Jennifer Windsor.

However, in a sign of difficult discussions in Helsinki, Putin said in a newspaper comment published Wednesday that 'it would be useless and wrong to try to force artificial 'standards' on each other'.

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