HANDLING FUTURE RELATIONS WITH RUSSIA

Russia remains one of the EU’s most important partners sharing economic and trade interests and progress in bilateral relations requires an open discussion to clarify issues of mutual disagreement. It is of the utmost importance to step up cooperation at international level between the EU and Russia in all institutions, organisations and forums with a view to improving global governance and addressing common challenges.

Good-neighbourly relations, peace and stability in their common neighbouring countries are in the interests of both Russia and the EU and an open, frank and result‑oriented dialogue will lead to improved mutual trust and create conditions for a renewed political impetus to move relations forward.

It is important to foster an EU-Russia intercultural dialogue and knowledge of each other’s history and cultural heritage, as well as encourage the mobility and exchange of students, teachers, professors and researchers in order to facilitate people-to-people contacts that will provide a visible and tangible testimony to sustainable relations.

The handling of future relations is a key test for European diplomacy and foreign policy, yet hitherto divisions between Member States have been the most important factor hampering the development of a strategic EU policy towards Russia. In the long term, only a dual approach with Member States acting together as well as using their bilateral connections in the service of EU policy will be effective.

The President of the European Commission as well as the President of European Council carrying the authority of Member States should take the lead in shaping the EU’s policy towards Russia. The very fact of the European Council exercising its decision-making processes and strategic thinking on Russia will be demonstrating the engagement of Member States and send an important message to the Russian Government.

The starting point for reviewing the EU’s policy towards Russia should be a common analysis with a view to identifying shared strategic interests and vulnerabilities. The EU must be guided by a robust assessment of its interests and an understanding of today’s Russia. This analysis would form the basis of a strategic framework on Russia. Starting a serious dialogue on issues of shared interests as well as cultural co-operation and educational exchanges could have  a positive effect both on public opinion in Russia and on the adversarial mindset present in official circles. Irrespective of how EU-Russia relations proceed, this cooperation should not be sacrificed.

While there is no prospect of a rapid return to business as usual, the EU and Member States still need to engage in dialogue, in the course of which the interests of both sides should be reconciled as far as possible. Within this perspective EU-Russia summits which are currently suspended should be reconvened.

The current division of competences within the EU, whereby both the Commission and the Member States have responsibility for different aspects of the EU-Russia relationship complicates co-operation with Russia. Russia finds the institutional complexities of the EU difficult to navigate and therefore prefers to deal with Member States on a bilateral basis. The European Commission rightly has some areas of exclusive competence, in trade in particular but it must be clearly mandated by Member States who should take ownership of the policy and signal it to Russia.

EU Action

1. How clear have the EU and its Member States been in their strategic intent in their business and economic relations with Russia? How could the EU and Member States do more? Has the EU used its commercial relations strategically and effectively?
2. To what extent and in what sectors are EU Member States’ economies dependent on Russia and vice versa? To what extent is Russia turning towards the East in its business and economic relationships and what implications does this have for its relationship with the EU?
3. How effective have Russian businesses been in wielding influence in EU Member States, at the EU institutional level and through what means? What are the political and diplomatic implications of the depth of our economic relations?
4. Are these business interactions used for political and strategic purposes by the Russian state? What is the impact on the business environment and corporate governance in the EU as a result of doing business with Russia?
5. Could the EU do more to address the problem of corruption, rule of law and corporate governance within the commercial relationship between the EU and Russia and could it do more to improve standards of governance in corporate behaviour? How do EU regulations, and the business environment in Member States, encourage a mutually beneficial trading relationship?
6. Does the EU take sufficient account of the ‘Russian perspective’ and of Russian sensibilities? Do the Russians take account of the EU perspective? What steps can the EU take to encourage the Russians to take more account of the EU perspective in their political calculations?
7. Does the EU have a joined-up approach towards Russia, which couples political strategy with economic and business agreements? Is there a divergence between the approaches of Member States and that of the EU? How can the EU and its Member States build a consistent, coherent and strategic policy towards Russia? How can the EU ensure that its economic aims do not run counter to its political and strategic goals? What are the decision-making processes in the EU which might improve this?

Framework for Relations

1. What criteria should govern the relationship with Russia and within what sort of overarching structures? What is the appropriate framework to conduct our relations with Russia? How can the EU construct a relationship with Russia that is positive, mutually beneficial but also respects the EU’s strategic purposes and its values?
2. What are the criteria for best practice in the conduct of those relationships? How can the EU uphold its values of corporate governance and good practice in its commercial relations with Russia?
3. What role can EU businesses play in promoting EU best practice and EU values in Russia?

Policy Recommendations

1. Before developing policy, the European Union should attempt to understand Russia's socio-political developments, its economic opportunities, and the implications of its evolving foreign policy posture. European leaders need to look beyond the usual stereotypes of Russia as neo-soviet and neo-imperial. Similarly, expectations of Russia's inevitable stagnation and certain decline need to be revisited and checked against available evidence.
2. The EU should refrain from making value judgments on internal Russian politics. By refraining from commenting on internal developments, the EU can emphasize that it does not seek to interfere in Russian internal affairs, unless severe humanitarian reasons require it. This does not omply that the EU should forget about human rights and universal values, but sometimes the indirect and slow way produces more results than direct confrontation.
3. People to people contacts should be strengthened with the help of a more flexible visa policy. Visa liberalisation should not be regarded as a gift to responsible leaders, but as an instrument to spread knowledge about the EU to visiting students, business people and tourists. Lifting visa requirements, instead of offering unsolicited advice would lend credibility to the EU rather than medling with internal affairs, or drastically applying pressure for regime change.
4. European leaders must deal with Russia by putting the focus on attainable practical results. It is possible to cooperate with the Russian leadership where it can expect low costs and high status gains.
5. The EU need not think of the Customs Union and the Eurasian Economic Union as a reincarnation of the USSR. While these efforts naturally complicate EU-Russia relations, Europeans should strive for the maximum amount of progress that can be achieved with Russia bilaterally.
6. The EU's policy towards Russia should not merely be as a source of energy and raw materials, an object of European Union human rights and democracy discourse, or even a field to exercise European soft power. A partnership with Russia would, in the long term provide a rejuvenated European Union with strategic depth stretching across Eurasia. If the EU can begin to think strategically about its relations with Russia, it will begin to emerge as a global strategic player.
7. According to Professor Hanns Maull, Senior Distinguished Fellow at the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP), it is Europe and not the United States that holds the key to easing tensions with Russia. Brussels needs to recognize that while the Western project is still popular throughout Eastern Europe, the political realities of the EU’s neighbouring states are fundamentally different from the rest of the continent. Russia’s strategic interests in this region mean that these states’ political orientation cannot be changed quickly.