The summit EU – Russia concluded on 22 May did not bring any actual results. Nevertheless the parties remained satisfied with each other.

We could remind that on the eve of the meeting in Chabarovsk most of the observers counted on heated discussions between Russia and the European Union in the sphere of cooperation in the energy sector.

However, there was no scandal in the discussions. Instead, the President of Russia Dmitrij Medvedev, his Check colleague Vaclav Klaus, representing the presiding country in the European Union, Secretary General of the Council of the EU Javier Solana, and the President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso enjoyed a trip on the boat, tasted pheasants of the Far East and were satisfied with the meeting and each other in general.

However, the parties did not reach any agreement. The partners acknowledged that “we did not mange to bring our positions closer with regards to the Energy Charter”, but have expressed hope that “blockades in supplying gas, as it happened in the beginning of this year, will not take place any more”. Dmitrij Medvedev pretended he was not offended by the refusal to accept his proposal in the sphere of energetic safety, and the European side had diplomatically noted that “Energy Charter in its present state is not addressing all issues”.

Actually the only thing that captures attention in the final statement of the participants of the summit EU - Russia, is the statement of the EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs. He confirmed that the EU is further interested in receiving oil by the oil pipeline “Druzba”, which has branch-lines to Latvia (Ventspils) and to Lithuania (Butinge). However, the Russian side did not react to the call of the Commissioner in any way - at least, officially.

Material has been prepared by the Centre for Geopolitical Studies with reference to the article from “Telegraf.lv“ of 22 May 2009.

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