There is a need for the EU to engage in normalization of political relations with Russia. Official contacts between the European Parliament, the State Duma and the Russian Federation Council are currently frozen. In view of the dramatic developments in many regions of the world which can only be solved through coordinated policies of the global community, there is a need to restoring dialogue between the EU and Russia.

1. Give the People A Voice

EU policies that impact on 500 million people are drawn up by distant, un-elected bureaucrats, validated in ministerial meetings dominated by a few powerful nations and rubber stamped by MEPs. Referendums give the people a voice, allowing them to impose directly democratic checks and balances on the shift of power to Brussels.

2. Legitimize EU Policy

Source: Bertelsmann Foundation

France has just started examining new draft legislation on the fight against corruption. Discussions before the French Parliament are expected to begin in April 2016, but one can already understand that this is going to be a milestone event on the French history of anti-corruption laws and a legal revolution. The draft legislation, which has not been published yet, is about to be presented to the French State Council (Conseil d'Etat) for legal validation. The legislative process will only start afterwards.

What kind of Russia does the European Union wish to see as its neighbour, and, crucially, on what basis does the EU wish to engage and/or re-engage with Russia? The obstacles to an effective EU-Russia relationship centre on the paradox that the two are close enough neighbours not to be able to ignore each other, yet on the whole neither currently perceives itself to have a pressing need for the other. In particular the EU has failed to elaborate clear objectives and incentives that can overcome this lack of motivation and thus drive serious engagement.

China’s dumping undermines free and fair trade. A company is ‘dumping’ if it is exporting a product to the EU at prices lower than the normal value of the product (the domestic prices of the product or the cost of production) on its own domestic market. The purpose of dumping is usually to increase market share in a foreign market or to drive out competition. Chinese enterprises dump more products into Europe’s open market than any other country in the world. Indeed, 75% of all the EU's anti-dumping measures in force involve China.

Effective lobbying strategies, tactics and ethics can be taught and learned with a combination of rigorous academic research and applied/practical wisdom from professional advocates. (Practical wisdom involves an understanding about the aims of activities in which one is engaged. It’s about improvising and balancing conflicting aims and interpreting rules and procedures in a particular context. It’s about taking on the perspective of others and learning how the other person feels. Practical wisdom is about blending emotions and values with reason to do the right thing.

1. Jan Beyers, University of Antwerp, Belgium: Full Professor of Political Science at the University of Antwerp (Department of Political Science) and  Director of the Antwerp Centre for Institutions and Multilevel Politics (ACIM).  Since 2014,co-editor of the journal Interest Groups and Advocacy.

1. The EU has for many years striven to build a mutually beneficial strategic partnership with Russia based on shared values and principles, such as democracy and rule of law, and on common interests;
2. The EU remains open to such a relationship and to dialogue leading to it, and wishes to return to a cooperative relation with Russia, should the Russian authorities meet their international and legal obligations;

According to Mr. Henry Kissinger, the goal should be to develop a strategic concept for U.S.-Russian relations within which the points of contention may be managed

Key Questions to be addressed