| Europe is waiting for Russia in the WTO The main topics of today's Russia-EU summit will be electricity prices and the problem of the Kaliningrad region in connection with the expansion of the European Union. This became completely clear after the international conference “Prospects for Russian-European Integration in the 21st Century.” Despite the numerous compliments generously scattered by all speakers, it is clear that the upcoming negotiations will be extremely difficult.
The Minister of Economy of this country, Rodrigo Rato, spoke about other topics of the summit on behalf of the European Union, which is currently chaired by Spain. According to him, an active dialogue will be launched on granting Russia market status, and “an important statement on the creation of a single economic pan-European space” will be made. In response, Russian Minister of Economic Development and Trade German Gref expressed hope that an agreement on the procedure for resolving disputes between Russia and the EU will be signed at the summit. It has already been initialed by the parties.
However, these are all rather routine protocol events. Whether there is a “fork” in domestic and export prices for Russian energy resources. 41% of gas supplies to Europe come from Russia, and EU countries have long expressed dissatisfaction with the preferences received by Russian enterprises due to low energy prices. Moreover, Europeans stubbornly refuse to consider this circumstance “a natural advantage of Russia,” as the Russian government believes, but call it a “non-market measure” and “state export subsidies.” The Europeans would probably be willing to exchange the recognition of Russia as a country with a market economy, so desired by Moscow, for a promise to unify external and internal energy prices. In any case, in almost all speeches these two points were suspiciously linked.
Mr. Gref cautiously promised that Russia would soon get rid of negative pricing mechanisms, but in general, according to him, “there are no world prices for oil, gas and coal, but there is a market.” Deputy General Director of Russian Aluminum, Alexander Livshits, who is not bound by the status of a government official, spoke much more frankly. According to him, world prices will never be established in Russia, because “that’s the geography.” And no one will refuse natural benefits. Mr. Livshits made it clear that the granting of status is more a matter of political conjuncture and is not so strongly connected with the country’s achievements in terms of market reforms. The Baltic countries received their status back in 1993, and it is simply impossible to imagine that they were more market-oriented then than Russia is now. Mr. Livshits advised EU members “not to give us an explanation of how to get status, but just give it.”
The most difficult issue in relations between Russia and the EU today remains the position of the Kaliningrad region, which, after Lithuania and Poland join the EU, will be cut off from the rest of Russia. Previous negotiations have stalled. The Russian side insists on visa-free movement of Russian citizens back and forth, and on the creation of special transport corridors for this. Those who jump off the train while it is moving will be brought before a Lithuanian criminal court. The European Union wants Russian citizens to receive Schengen visas and for cargo to undergo customs inspection. It is difficult to say whether any progress will be achieved at the next summit. All speakers ended with general words about the “unique situation of Kaliningrad.” And Mr. Gref generally limited his speech to technical problems of synchronizing the power systems of Russia and the European Union, necessary for the supply of electricity to Kaliningrad.
There was also a discussion of the topic of Russia's accession to the WTO. Both sides noted the importance of completing this process as quickly as possible. According to European Commission member for trade Pascal Lamy, the WTO without Russia is not the organization it should be. And membership in the WTO is needed not only by Russia itself, but also by the EU, as it will lead to stability and predictability of trade rules. Mr. Gref did not remain in debt, noting that “the WTO without Russia cannot be considered a full-fledged world organization.” Already, 35% of exports to EU countries come from Russia, and after the admission of new members to the EU, this figure will increase to 50%.
The speeches of EU emissaries showed that they are no less interested than Russia in its early accession to the WTO. And this gives some hope that even if Russia cannot dictate its terms of entry, they may become a little more humane. Vera SITNINA |
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