On 23 April, the current President of the EU Council, Federal Foreign Minister Dr Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, Javier Solana, and the EU Commissioner for External Relations, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, joined Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for a regular meeting of the EU Troika with Russia. The meeting was also attended by Foreign Minister Luís Filipe Marques Amado on behalf of the upcoming Portuguese Presidency.
At the beginning of the meeting, the delegations received news of the death of former Russian President Boris Yeltsin. Federal Minister Steinmeier paid tribute to President Yeltsin’s significant contribution to both the development of democracy and the market economy in Russia, and to Russia’s opening up to Germany and the European Union. President Yeltsin’s period in office saw, among other things, the signing of the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement between Russia and the EU.
An important topic of the Troika meeting was the further development of this Partnership and Cooperation Agreement. In the last few years, relations between the EU and Russia in all areas – politics, the economy, education and culture – have grown more intense, and should now be given a broader and better treaty basis. The parties expressed their hope that all obstacles to negotiations could be removed before the EU-Russia Summit in Samara on 18 May. Particular attention was given to the lifting of Russia’s ban on Polish meat and vegetable imports. Federal Minister Steinmeier said that he expected Russia to take concrete steps in the right direction, and called for both countries to make a gesture of good faith.
Another important item of the Troika meeting was the extension of the existing Cooperation and Partnership Agreement between the EU and Russia to Bulgaria and Romania, which acceded to the EU on 1 January 2007. This would allow both countries to be fully integrated in exchange between the EU and Russia, and the possibilities arising from EU enlargement, not least with regard to Russia, to be fully realised.
