The complicated relations between eu and Russia

People's Daily Online, December, 2007

The EU-Russian summit meeting was held in mid-May of this year, in the small city of Samara in Russia. It ended without any tangible results, although the two parties planned to discuss issues relating to energy security, a new partnership and Kosovo. Analysts say that this meeting was doomed from the beginning due to tensions between the EU and Russia over the past six months. At the beginning of this year, Russia was not satisfied with the US intention of establishing anti-missile defense bases in Poland and the Czech Republic. It threatened to stop implementation of the treaty on European conventional forces and continues to ban the import of Polish meat products. Poland vetoed the EU proposal of holding talks with Russia about establishing a new partnership between the two. The EU also took this chance to make it more difficult for Russia to join the WTO. Since the end of April, Estonia and Russia have had a very tense relationship because Estonia destroyed a memorial monument of the Soviet Army from the Second World War.

Before it commenced, some EU countries called for a cancellation of the summit. Even though the meeting was held as scheduled, the focus shifted from reaching specific agreements, to avoiding the deterioration of the bilateral relations.

The tension between the EU and Russia is due to a lack of trust. The first factor is energy. In order to avoid dependence on Russia for an energy supply, the EU has sped up the pace of developing a common energy strategy. One the one hand, it seeks a diversified energy supply and wants to cooperate more with central Asian countries. On the other hand, it also wants to develop renewable energy. To counter the EU anti- energy dependence policy, Russia has implemented a multi-dimensional policy on energy supplies and has tried to maintain its monopoly on energy. If the dispute over natural gas between Russia and Ukraine marked the deterioration of trust, other disputes have also weakened the trust between Russia and the EU. The second factor is the United States. In recent years, due to the increase of the Atlantic force, tense relations between Russia and the US have inevitably affected the relations between the EU and Russia. Although the EU does not like to aggravate their relations with Russia, the EU cannot help but follow the US in promoting the eastern expansion of NATO, the 'colored revolution', and the US anti-missile defense system. All these events have weakened the mutual trust between Russia and the EU. Whether it is the US who wants the EU to coordinate their policies with Russia, or the EU has chosen to side with the US; the decisions of the EU all contribute to Russia's feelings of suspicion about the EU strategy.

The third factor is central and eastern Europe. For historical reasons, Poland, the Baltic nations and Russia have all had a complicated relationship. Currently many disputes have arisen from central and eastern European countries. Due to the negative views of Russia, the EU cannot implement positive policies on Russia. For example, Poland's veto has prevented the EU and Russia from conducting concrete talks on establishing new partnerships. On the other hand, when central and eastern European countries and Russia have problems, and the EU wants to develop relations with Russia, the unity of the EU takes priority.

The fourth factor is the revitalization of Russia. Russia, as a rising nation, hopes to develop a constructive and equal strategic and cooperative relationship with the EU. However, the EU still perceives Russia as a country with different values. It supports and encourages Russia's bordering countries to undergo a so-called democratic transition. This has formed great geopolitical pressure on Russia. This is no doubt another important factor that stimulates conflict between Russia and the EU.

The EU and Russia are neighbors. Although they have never been true friends, they have formed a type of close, mutually dependent relationship. In the foreseeable future, the EU will still depend on Russia for energy and Russia's energy market. This means that the two sides must avoid the deterioration of bilateral relations and seek cooperation. However, due to the above mentioned factors, it is difficult to regain a sense of mutual trust between the two sides in a short period of time. This, to a large extent, has prevented the formation of a broad and deep cooperative relationship between the EU and Russia.

( Zhang Jian, a researcher from the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations)