EU resumes Russia talks, isolating Lithuania

RENATA GOLDIROVA

11.11.2008 @ 08:13 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Union is set to return to the negotiating table with Russia in order to agree a new partnership treaty. But Lithuania has refused to bless the move, describing it "a mistake."

The decision came after "a pretty lively debate" by EU foreign ministers on Monday (10 November), with Bernard Kouchner - speaking on behalf of France's EU presidency - saying that "26 out of 27 [EU members] is not so bad ...and enough."

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EU external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner added that it was in the union's "objective interest" to resume the EU-Russia negotiations. The existing treaty is outdated and needs to be modernised on issues such as energy security, she argued.

Talks on a new strategic deal were put on ice on 1 September in response to Russian military retaliation over Georgia's crackdown on separatists in its breakaway region of South Ossetia. Russian troops were to withdraw to positions held before the short war to allow the resumption of EU talks.

Lithuania says Moscow has not lived up to the commitment, as its army operates in the Akhalgori district and the upper Kodori valley - zones inside the breakaway regions, but previously controlled by Georgian authorities. Russia now has 10,000 troops stationed in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, compared to 3,000 earlier.

"What has changed since 1 September? Why are we changing our own line on withdrawal of troops and the resumption of talks with Russia?" Lithuanian deputy foreign minister Zygimantes Pavilionis told journalists after the ministerial meeting.

"It is not the right timing," he added, underlining that the union should not play with values and international committments. "Is it a Munich of today? Well, we will ask France and the European Commission in years to come. History will show who was right," Mr Pavilionis said.

Western powers France, the UK and Italy in Munich in 1938 agreed Germany could annex part of the then Czechoslovakia in a move seen by historians as contributing to World War II.

Poland, which had earlier supported the Lithuanian stance, peeled away at the last minute. "It's a dilemma. We should solve it by returning to the talks, but continuing to call for what we think is right," Polish foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski said.

The European Commission, which has a mandate to run the Russia negotiations on behalf of the 27-nation bloc, insists that Monday's decision is not a gift to Moscow and does not mean a change in position on Russian action towards Georgia.

It remains "unacceptable," commissioner Ferrero-Waldner said, citing Moscow's violation of the territorial integrity of Georgia and its unilateral recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states.

Georgia, for its part, said it was "important" that "the matter is not closed," with the country's prime minister Grigol Mgaloblishvili saying in a statement on Monday that "Georgia today remains a nation forcibly occupied by a foreign force."

According to Antonio Missiroli from the Brussels-based European Policy Center, it would be "counterproductive" to continue a sanction-like approach vis-a-vis such a big and proud country like Russia.

"It could generate the kind of behaviour we don't want," he said.

The analyst argued that a new Russia treaty is in the "primary" interest of the EU, particularly when it comes to rules on energy investments. "Maybe breaking up the negotiations would do Russia a favour because Russia will be less bound to a code of conduct on energy supply that we would like it to be."

The precise day for a fresh round of talks has not been announced yet, but they will take place soon after the EU-Russia summit in Nice (14 November). Mr Missiroli expects the negotiations to run at a low, technical level, with fewer meetings than before.