An international conference on “Russia and European Union” was held in Moscow on 21 March. The event was hosted by the RIAC with the support of the Russian Government, Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP), Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IMEMO), and LUKOIL. Prominent Russian and European officials and public figures, scholars and businessmen gathered together to discuss issues of cooperation between Russia and the EU, the leading integrated community in the world. The audience had more than 300 participants.
An international conference on “Russia and European Union” was held in Moscow on 21 March. The event was hosted by the RIAC with the support of the Russian Government, Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP), Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IMEMO), and LUKOIL.
Prominent Russian and European officials and public figures, scholars and businessmen gathered together to discuss issues of cooperation between Russia and the EU, the leading integrated community in the world. The audience had more than 300 participants.
The conference was launched with keynote addresses by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso.
Dmitry Medvedev focused on the need to improve further the relationship with the European Union, which Russia views as its long- term priority. It is essential to develop a sustainable basis for our collaboration. According to Premier Medvedev, it would be both unwise and dangerous to postpone these efforts till later.
Supporting this position, Mr. Barroso emphasized that Europe continued to be the key partner for Russia in its efforts to modernise. Central to this process is the building of strategic trust based on mutual arrangements and understanding of mutual interests.
The challenges and the potential for Russia-EU relations were further dwelt upon by other speakers. Perspectives on successes and failures over the past decade since the 2003 St Petersburg Russia-EU Summit were shared by François Fillon (French Prime Minister in 2007-2012); Wolfgang Schüssel (Austria’s Federal Chancellor in 2000-2007); Paavo Lipponen (Prime Minister of Finland in 1995-2003); Xavier Solana (EU’s High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy in 1999-2009); Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz (Poland’s Prime Minister in 1996-1997); Franco Frattini (Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italy in 2008-2011); and Volker Rühe (German Defence Minister in 1992-1998). The discussions were moderated by Igor Ivanov, RIAC President and Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1998-2004.
Debates on the general parameters of the partnership between Russia and the EU were followed by two more sessions dedicated to economic issues and Eurasian integration, respectively.
The speakers noted that intense economic contacts between Russia and the EU countries served as a good basis for the stronger trust as pointed out earlier. Most of the challenges, according to Wolfgang Schüssel, occur where the pragmatism of business and its thrust towards innovations and growth run into the extremely cautious position by national authorities, with their propensity to think within the limits of a nation instead of a community of nations, or else bump into stereotypes that dominate media or public opinion.
Members of the business community that attended the conference supported that statement with demonstrations of personal examples, stressing the need to implement clear and predictable business rules both in Russia and the EU.
A logical culmination of the dialogue on the significance of economic factors for both Russia and the EU came with the discussion of Eurasian integration.
Addressing the second session, both Andrei Slepnev, member of the Trade Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission, and Andrei Denisov, First Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation, noted that the EU’s experience was quite vital for the robust development of the Customs Union between Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. The speakers also discussed longer-term perspectives involving some arrangements to pool together free trade zones which could potentially emerge anywhere between Lisbon and Vladivostok.
The RIAC will be publishing an analytical digest based on the discussions that took place at this conference.
International conference: “Russia and the European Union: partnership and its potential”, March 21, 2013
