The Valdai International Discussion Club and the Higher School of Economics (HSE) organized a panel discussion titled “Russia and Europe: Facing Common Challenges” in Moscow on July 1, 2011. In attendance were French Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Alain Juppe and more than 130 political scientists, economists, and specialists on international relations from leading Russian and foreign universities and research centers.
Diplomats, as well as HSE professors and students, took part in the discussion on a par with the permanent members of Valdai Club meetings.
The program included opening remarks by Mr. Juppe, followed by a panel discussion among several permanent members and an open discussion with attendees. Professor Sergei Karaganov, dean of the HSE Department of World Economy and Politics, chairman of the Presidium of the Council for Foreign and Defense Policy, and head of the Valdai Club, acted as a moderator.
Juppe opened the discussion by saying that “Russia and France have the same security interests in a shared geographical space.” He said that security is a key field of bilateral cooperation and that France is among the countries that believe that mistrust and dividing lines between Russia and Europe have long become a thing of the past. Juppe said that “Russia must occupy a place befitting it in the architecture of European security.”
Juppe also called Russia a key partner for France on energy issues. He noted that bilateral economic ties have changed radically over the past 10 years and that the two countries have become real partners, with France now the fifth largest foreign investor in Russia, ahead of the United States. He also voiced France’s active support for Russia’s WTO accession.
Juppe devoted much of his speech to the Middle East and North Africa. He said that France is ready to cooperate with Russia in resolving the Libyan conflict, where he thinks Russia could play a key role. Juppe noted that the mission to protect the Libyan people is far from over.
Speaking about recent events in Syria, Juppe expressed surprise over the hostility of some countries to a related draft resolution of the UN Security Council. France insists on the resolution’s adoption because it does not envisage armed intervention in Syria. Juppe also emphasized that “Russia and France could pursue a more coordinated policy on settling Arab conflicts.”
Timofei Bordachev, director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies of the HSE Department of World Economy and Politics continued the discussion by offering his own vision of the challenges facing not only Russia and Europe but also the rest of the world. He said that Russia and other European states are unique in that they “are more vulnerable to these challenges” and that the insufficient power of Russia and Europe has been a major necessity and prerequisite to their rapprochement. He mentioned two main challenges – the new role of the state in the international community and the emergence of a new balance of forces – and said that one solution is shedding the old European mentality on this issue. In his opinion, Russia and France can ensure their security only through joint efforts.
Tatyana Mitrova, head of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ (RAS) Center for the Study of the World Energy Markets, focused on Russia’s energy cooperation with Europe, primarily the direction of EU and Russian energy policy. She said that Russian-European energy cooperation has been increasingly marred by mistrust in the last few years. Mitrova expressed the opinion of many Russian experts, to the effect that the EU’s third energy package – a plan for liberalizing Europe’s energy market – has too many outstanding issues that are creating serious risks for Russia. “Honest acknowledgement of these issues and an attempt to resolve them could become a good foundation for further progress,” she said.
Expanding on the subject of energy, Juppe observed that the energy interests of Russia and the EU are interconnected: France needs Russian gas and Russia needs French consumers. Juppe expressed France’s readiness to take part in major projects in gas supplies and gas and oil pipelines, such as the Nord Stream and South Stream.
Professor Feng Shaolei, dean of the School of Advanced International and Area Studies (SAIAS) at East China Normal University, said that Russian-EU relations require rethinking. He noted that in the last 10 years, Russia’s cooperation with Europe has become more active than that with the United States. “The United States and Russia have started to ‘reset’ their relations, whereas ties between Russia and the EU have landed in stagnation. Russia and China have become strategic partners. Even China has built new relations with the EU. Why don’t Russia and the EU find an opportunity to improve their relations?” he asked. In his opinion, this issue could be resolved through a trilateral partnership of Eurasia’s biggest political players: the EU, Russia and China. Juppe, however, contested Shaolei’s statement on the stagnation of Russian-EU relations. He emphasized that Europe rather than America is now Russia’s major partner.
Participants in the discussion touched on common Russia and EU economic and political challenges, strategies for common security and development, European missile defense, and the potential influence of recent events in the Middle East on Russian-EU relations.
Dmitry Suslov, deputy director of the Department of Political Studies at the Council for Foreign and Defense Policy and deputy director of the HSE Center for European and International Studies, observed that contradictions between Russian and EU policy on Syria and Libya in no way obstruct Russia’s cooperation with France, although the situation has weighed on its relations with NATO and the United States. He said that an alliance between Europe and Russia must not come at the expense of other international partnerships and that the four major centers of power – Europe, Russia, China, and the United States – must cooperate rather than oppose each other on international policy. However, he thinks that Russia and Europe will struggle to become closer as long as Europe remains geopolitically split. In this context, Suslov expressed surprise that Juppe did not mention President Dmitry Medvedev’s idea for a new collective security treaty. The expert is convinced that the construction of a joint missile defense system could help Europe overcome its division. He asked Juppe to answer three questions: “What is France’s position on the new missile defense system in Europe?” “Why doesn’t France support Russia’s plan for joint missile defense?” and “Why is Europe silent?”
The meeting with Juppe continued in the Valdai Club’s tradition of inviting high-ranking Russian and foreign officials to its discussions and provoked much interest in the expert community and the media.
