> Living Europe - on 22/11/2006

The stakes of EU/Russia summit in Helsinki : Brussels and Moscow between energetic partnership and “geoeconomic struggle”

By Jean-Sylvestre MONGRENIER, Research Fellow of the French Institute of Geopolitics (Paris VIII Vincennes-Saint-Denis University) and Associate Fellow of the Thomas More Institute.

Working Paper N° 5 available in English and in French.

In the years of the post-Cold War, the European Union and Russia have engaged themselves in the elaboration of an ambitious global partnership. Signed in July 1994, The Cooperation and Partnership Agreement (APC) is reinforced, five years later, by the adoption of a “common European strategy” regarding Russia (June 1999), completed afterwards by the opening of a “political and security dialogue” an “energy dialogue” (October 2000). The supplying in the hydrocarbon and the energy security of European Union member states constitute the major file of this partnership at first sight. This difficult negotiation is more linked on the “geoeconomic struggle” than the “dialogue”. The upcoming summit in Helsinki (Finland), on the 24th of November, risks attesting it once again.

Download below the "Working Paper" in PDF (6 pages).

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