The EU and Russia

Stumbling from Summit to Summit

Author(s): Sabine Fischer
Editor(s): Matthias Neumann, Robert Orttung, Jeronim Perovic, Heiko Pleines, Hans-Henning Schröder
Series: Russian Analytical Digest (RAD)
Issue: 26
Pages: 10-13
Publisher(s): Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zurich; Research Centre for East European Studies, University of Bremen
Publication Year: 2007

Russia-EU relations are in crisis. The EU-Russia Summit on May 18 in Samara ended without tangible results, providing further evidence that both sides are drifting apart. The situation has not improved since then. By planting a Russian flag in a titanium capsule on the seabed under the North Pole, Moscow opened a new symbolic battlefield with the West. However, mutual economic and political interdependencies make it very unlikely that a New Cold War will emerge. At the same time, both sides have to change and adapt their policies if they want to return to a constructive partnership.

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