Eurosurprise

EU enlargement threatens losses for Russian exporters

The expansion of the European Union will create many problems for Russia, of which Kaliningrad is just the beginning. As Elena Danilova, head of the department of trade policy and multilateral negotiations of the Ministry of Economic Development, said on Wednesday, the accession of Eastern European and Baltic countries to the EU could lead to losses for Russian exporters of up to $300 million a year.

The reason for this will be EU trade legislation, according to which new EU members will have to undertake obligations to establish restrictions on imported goods from Russia. Now, for example, Russia can supply nuclear fuel to the states of Eastern Europe and the Baltics without trade limits. “In the event of EU expansion, these countries will undertake obligations to set quotas for the supply of these products,” Ms. Danilova said.

Russia, however, does not give up hope of receiving compensation in connection with possible losses. Negotiations are already underway. However, they may lead to nothing. Representatives of the European Union assure that Russia should not insist on compensation, including because Russian suppliers will receive additional opportunities to export goods that are currently restricted in Eastern Europe.

Director of the Department of International Affairs of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, Alexander Orlov, believes that multimillion-dollar losses for Russian exporters are quite real after the upcoming increase in the membership of the European Union. In a conversation with a correspondent of the Vremya Novostey newspaper, he recalled that our country once lost a lot after Finland joined the EU, which automatically introduced anti-dumping measures against a number of Russian goods - for example, fertilizers and metal products. According to Mr. Orlov, the position of the EU, which can refuse compensation to Russia, is “legally justified.” “But it does not honor the European Union against the backdrop of constant statements about deepening integration and expanding ties with Russia,” he said.

Meanwhile, Russian business itself has joined the fight for non-discriminatory access to Western markets. The National Investment Council (NIC), which includes heads of the country's largest banks and industrial associations, presented on Wednesday a program for protecting Russia's economic interests abroad. According to NIS, from 1992 to 2002 the number of restrictive measures applied by foreign countries against Russian exports increased more than tenfold. As a result, Russia loses up to $1.5 billion a year. The program proposes, in particular, to define a set of response measures that can or should be applied in the event of a violation of Russian economic interests abroad. NIS also intends to create an advisory foreign economic council under the government with the participation of representatives of leading Russian exporting entrepreneurs. But one of the most radical proposals concerns the Ministry of Economic Development - to unite its “numerous and disparate” foreign economic departments into a single foreign economic service. It should be headed by an official with the rank of first deputy minister.

Vera SITNINA, Mikhail VOROBYEV