The EU will continue negotiations with Russia

Ministry for Foreign Affairs
Government Communications Unit

Press release 420/2008
10 November, 2008

The European Union will continue its negotiations on cooperation with Russia. The matter was decided at the General Affairs and External Relations Council of the EU in Brussels on Monday, 10 November. Finland was represented at the meeting by Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen, Minister of Defence Jyri Häkämies and Minister of Migration and European Affairs Astrid Thors.

“In the end we decided that negotiations can be started at the EU-Russia Summit,” Stubb said in Brussels.

According to Foreign Minister Stubb, the decision has great importance for the entire foreign policy of the European Union. Owing to the Georgian crisis, the EU Heads of State postponed the launching of partnership negotiations in early September.

The agreement to be negotiated with Russia is intended to replace the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) now in force, and its aim is to strengthen cooperation between the European Union and Russia.

“The negotiations are bound to be a long process,” Stubb stated.

The EU–Russia Summit was prepared by the Ministers for Foreign Affairs at their working lunch. The Summit will be held on 14 November in Nice, France. The European Union will be represented by the Presidency, France, EU High Representative Javier Solana and by José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission. The participants representing the Russian Federation will be President Dimitri Medvedev and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Alexander Stubb meets with Foreign Minister Lavrov tomorrow, Tuesday, in Moscow.

Additional information: Director General Pilvi-Sisko Vierros, Political Department, mobile tel. +358 40 721 1705