Energy cooperation discussed at the St. Petersburg summit

The summit in St. Petersburg started Sunday evening with an informal dinner.

The summit’s plenary session is to take place Monday morning and it will be followed by lunch and a press conference where the decisions of the summit’s discussions will be announced.

The Petroleum and natural gas supplies make the European Union Russia’s biggest export market .In turn, Russia is the European Union’s most important commercial partner after the United States and China.

According to the most recent data collected by Eurostat, the European Bureau of Statistics, in 2011 the exports of the 27 member states reached an all-time record of 108 billion Euros.
The energetic cooperation, a constant in the EU-Russia summit.

In the agenda of bilateral summits, the energetic cooperation is a constant; on every occasion, the European Union makes efforts to ensure the security of its supplies.

As of now, many deals have been made that stipulate the rights and obligations that the two parties have in relation to each other.

The EU-Russia summit, held after electing of a new president and formation of a new Government, is a chance for us to consolidate the progress we have made, and also to take a strategic approach to the future- says the president of the European Committee, Jose Manuel Barroso, who is of the opinion that the bases of a new bilateral agreement should be decided on in the context of the summit.

At the same time-Jose Manuel Barroso says-the summit should certify the importance and the functionality of the partnership for modernization, whose application is in full progress.

The status of Russia’s procedures for adherence to the World Trade Organization, and the agreement on the requirements for the elimination of visas for Russian citizens, which has been negotiated for quite a few years in Moscow, are two other item s in the summit’s agenda.

The judicial and the human rights situation in Russia may be brought up by the EU spokespeople. Neither the eurozone’s problems nor the regional and international context-Syria in particular-won’t be omitted from the agenda of the bilateral discussions.

The St. Petersburg summit is the first contact between the European Union and President Vladimir Putin since his return to Kremlin.

The EU delegates to St. Petersburg are headed by the president of the European Committee, Jose Manuel Barroso and the President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy.


Translated by
Vlad Nichita
MTTLC, Bucharest University