FACTBOX-Improving relations between EU and Russia
May 26 (Reuters) - European Union foreign ministers approved a negotiating mandate for talks on a new partnership agreement with Russia after 18 months of objections by ex-communist members of the bloc.
Following are some of the issues in Russian-EU relations.
A NEW BEGINNING:
-- The EU hopes to launch talks with Russia on a broad new partnership covering political and economic ties, including energy and trade, at a June 26-27 EU-Russia summit in Siberia.
-- The Siberia summit will be the EU's first encounter with President Dmitry Medvedev, and there is guarded optimism in the bloc that he will take a different tack from his predecessor, Vladimir Putin.
-- Poland first vetoed the adoption of the mandate in November 2006 after Russia banned imports of fresh meat and other food products from Warsaw, lifting its objection earlier in 2008 after Moscow removed the embargo.
-- Lithuania had held up agreement over issues that included Russian oil supplies, judicial cooperation and Moscow's role in separatist disputes in some former Soviet republics, in particular Georgia and Moldova.
ENERGY:
-- European governments have raised concerns about the treatment of some European energy investors attempting to develop oil and gas resources in Russia. Large firms have felt they were being shut out of lucrative investments in Russia.
-- Finalising a common EU energy policy was necessary to ease the stranglehold Russian gas monopoly Gazprom enjoyed on the bloc, which relies on Russia for a quarter of its gas supplies.
-- Bilateral deals with Moscow by EU states such as Germany, France and Italy have weakened the EU's hand and critics have accused Moscow of using divide-and-rule tactics. States suspicious of Russia could be able to hold up the talks process at any stage.
HUMAN RIGHTS/UNSOLVED MURDERS:
-- EU governments have voiced concern about human rights, democracy and media freedom in Russia.
-- Ties between Russia and Britain have soured over the murder of former KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006, and the killing of campaigning journalist Anna Politkovskaya the same year.
KOSOVO:
-- Kosovo's ethnic Albanian government wanted the EU to take over policing when it declared independence from Serbia last February, infuriating not only Serbia but also its own minority Serb population.
-- Kosovo's failure to secure Serbian or Russian recognition meant the U.N. Security Council has not transferred the policing mandate from the existing U.N. force, UNMIK. -- Russia has questioned the legality of EU deployment in the absence of a U.N. mandate and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said only that he takes note of the EU's desire to help.
For latest story please click on [nL26326862] (Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
Following are some of the issues in Russian-EU relations.
A NEW BEGINNING:
-- The EU hopes to launch talks with Russia on a broad new partnership covering political and economic ties, including energy and trade, at a June 26-27 EU-Russia summit in Siberia.
-- The Siberia summit will be the EU's first encounter with President Dmitry Medvedev, and there is guarded optimism in the bloc that he will take a different tack from his predecessor, Vladimir Putin.
-- Poland first vetoed the adoption of the mandate in November 2006 after Russia banned imports of fresh meat and other food products from Warsaw, lifting its objection earlier in 2008 after Moscow removed the embargo.
-- Lithuania had held up agreement over issues that included Russian oil supplies, judicial cooperation and Moscow's role in separatist disputes in some former Soviet republics, in particular Georgia and Moldova.
ENERGY:
-- European governments have raised concerns about the treatment of some European energy investors attempting to develop oil and gas resources in Russia. Large firms have felt they were being shut out of lucrative investments in Russia.
-- Finalising a common EU energy policy was necessary to ease the stranglehold Russian gas monopoly Gazprom enjoyed on the bloc, which relies on Russia for a quarter of its gas supplies.
-- Bilateral deals with Moscow by EU states such as Germany, France and Italy have weakened the EU's hand and critics have accused Moscow of using divide-and-rule tactics. States suspicious of Russia could be able to hold up the talks process at any stage.
HUMAN RIGHTS/UNSOLVED MURDERS:
-- EU governments have voiced concern about human rights, democracy and media freedom in Russia.
-- Ties between Russia and Britain have soured over the murder of former KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006, and the killing of campaigning journalist Anna Politkovskaya the same year.
KOSOVO:
-- Kosovo's ethnic Albanian government wanted the EU to take over policing when it declared independence from Serbia last February, infuriating not only Serbia but also its own minority Serb population.
-- Kosovo's failure to secure Serbian or Russian recognition meant the U.N. Security Council has not transferred the policing mandate from the existing U.N. force, UNMIK. -- Russia has questioned the legality of EU deployment in the absence of a U.N. mandate and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said only that he takes note of the EU's desire to help.
For latest story please click on [nL26326862] (Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved.
Man walks into his own funeral.