In response to the "five principles" of the EU's relations with Russia, released by the European Commission in March, the Valdai Club formulated its "six principles", which Russia should be guided by in contacts with the European Union. These principles were presented on May 12 at the Valdai Club conference hall during the presentation of the report "Russia and the European Union: three questions about the new principles of relations."
According to the report’s authors, the crisis in relations between Russia and the EU began much earlier than in 2014, and the Ukrainian scenario was made possible by the issues that had brewed between Russia and the European Union. Among them were, specifically, the 2002 negotiations on the transit of Russian citizens to the Kaliningrad region, the complexity of the negotiations on the Russian WTO membership, and others
"The crisis has been prepared, because all conditions have been created for it," - said Timofei Bordachev, lead author of the report and a program director at the Valdai Club.
Valdai Club Research Director Fyodor Lukyanov explained that the idea of "Greater Europe" from Lisbon to Vladivostok was largely impossible because the political situation had changed greatly, while the words and terms remained the same, from the mid-1980s.
According to Valdai Club program director Dmitry Suslov, the formation of a new relationship model can take decades. However, it is clear that furthering the concept of Russian membership of the EU would be political suicide for Russia.
Russia is currently in the process of developing a network of partnerships with other players, and perhaps it would be better to focus on the development of the Eurasian Economic Union and projects related to the confluence and the implementation of the "Silk Road" programme before returning to the negotiating table with European partners in new capacity.
Because Russia and the European Union will belong to different economic, political and value-based partnerships in the near future, it would be reasonable to create a new agenda for relations - not philosophical and strategic, as before, but purely practical, according to the report. Moreover, in contrast to the five principles of the European Union for building relationships with Russia it should be more procedural than substantive.
The report proposes to develop a relationship based on the following principles:
1. Openness to all partners and willingness to develop relations with all state and non-state actors;
2. Inclusivity of relations and recognition of the partners' ability to cooperate with any countries, unions and organizations;
3. Subsidiarity and addressing emerging issues at an optimal level, including international and inter-regional;
4. Proportionality of action and dialogue level, and compliance with the fragmented nature of political engagement;
5. Diversification of foreign political and economic relations;
6. Unconditional revocation of the visa restrictions imposed by the European Union in relation to Crimean residents who received Russian citizenship after March 2014, as well as any special sanctions relating only to residents of the Crimea.
Read the report in PDF format: Russia and the European Union: three questions about the new principles of relations
One of the discussion participants, Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Republic of Lithuania in Russia Remigijus Motuzas, suggested making these principles more developed and detailed, equating them to the format of the five principles of the EU. He also noted that the current nature of relations between Russia and the European Union would not allow for fundamental changes in the model of relations overnight.
During the discussion, many experts stressed the importance of cooperation between Russia and the European Union in dealing with security issues, education, environment, economy and energy.
The principle of subsidiarity was most discussed by the participants, as well as the report's call to move to bilateral relations with EU member states. Mixed views were expressed concerning the Russian policy of pivoting to Asia and the importance of economic partnership with China.
The report’s authors acknowledged the validity and value of the expert comments, adding that the report was not written in order to provide hard guidelines for building a new model of relations, but to create a common framework for a more specific and professional debate within the EU-Russia cooperation.
