Ukraine the Hottest Topic in EU-Russia Talks

It was no surprise that the main topic of the 32nd EU-Russia Summit that took place at the end of January in Brussels was the situation in Ukraine. The initial peaceful protest reacting at Ukrainian President’s surprising decision not to sign the Association Agreement with the EU quickly broke out into massive demonstrations that led to resignation of the government.

At the summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin reconfirmed the commitment which had a large influence on President Yanukovych’s decision not to sign the agreement saying that Russia would provide a loan and reduce gas prices for Ukraine. The discussions about the Eastern Partnership and the Customs Union between Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan also took place at the summit. While President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso and President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy tried to convince the Russian delegation that the potential accession of Ukraine to the Eastern Partnership would have no effect on the Russian market, President Putin expressed doubts and requested further assurance that Russia would not be flooded by EU goods through Ukraine. Political stability in Ukraine is a concern for both politicians and business leaders, and Czech businesses are no exception. Ukraine is a very attractive market for Czech companies with high growth potential, which is a reason why it made to the list of 12 priority markets in the 2012-2020 export strategy of Czech government. According to 2012 figures, Czech exports to Ukraine rose by 37% compared to previous year to more than 1 billion EUR and pushed Ukraine among the top 20 most important market for Czech businesses.

A good sign of EU- Russia relations is the commitment of both sides to continue in bilateral talks regularly and to work together on a new agreement that would replace partnership and cooperation agreement signed in the early nineties. The next chance to deal with one of the ‘quite a few problems’ between EU and Russia – as described by EU officials, will be on 3rd June 2014 at the next bilateral summit in Sochi, Russia.