Visa en luchtvaart wellicht niet opgenomen in nieuwe overeenkomst EU-Rusland (en)

BRUSSELS / EUOBSERVER - Visa facilitation and trans-Siberian airlines might not make it into the EU and Russia's new road map agreement, which is due to be sealed at a bilateral summit in Moscow's Great Kremlin Palace on 10 May.

The 60-page document will set out guidelines for future co-operation on four "common spaces" in the fields of the economy, external security, freedom and justice and education.

The text is set to be published shortly after next week's meeting, with both sides "optimistic" about the outcome, but warning that discussions on the final wording could stretch late into the night.

"We have the political will in the EU and in Russia and I am sure that we will sign the document on Tuesday," a spokesman for the Russian mission to Brussels said.

Current EU president Jean-Claude Juncker, European Commission chief José Manuel Barroso and foreign policy head Javier Solana will fine tune the deal with Russian president Vladimir Putin and his team.

The text will be an expression of political will, beefing up the 1997 Partnership and Co-operation Agreement that forms the existing basis of EU-Russian relations with new commitments and action plans.

It will not be legally binding in any way.

"Whether talk is converted into practice is something that will have to be reviewed a couple of years from now", a commission source said.

Visas and aeroplanes cause headache

Plans to ease up visa rules for businessmen and diplomats, as well as Russian subsidies for trans-Siberian airlines, are continuing to cause headaches less than one week before the summit though.

Brussels and Moscow both dispatched teams of experts to the two capitals on Tuesday (May 3) to try and pin down agreement on the two outstanding issues.

Brussels is keen for Russia to bring in long term multi-entry visas for professional travellers and to provide explicit repatriation rules for non-EU and non-Russian citizens who transit through Russia to reach central and western Europe.

But Russia wants to put the repatriation rules on hold, opting to tie them in with future talks on visa free travel instead.

Commission officials stressed that visa free travel remains a distant prospect and would not be conceivable until Russia signs outstanding border treaties with Latvia and Estonia.

The EU also wants Russia to stop some $300 million (233 million euro) per year of state aid to airlines such as Aeroflot by 2013.

The Commission is expecting the visa and subsidies issues to be tackled after 10 May.

Moscow is more optimistic.

"Our visions of how to solve these problems are a bit different," a delegation source indicated. "But I am sure that the expert working groups in Brussels and Moscow will be able to settle on the details before the summit," he added.

On the freedom and justice front, both sides have agreed to insert clauses promoting an independent judiciary and a free press in Russia, as well as a statement that the fight against terrorism should be balanced by the need to respect human rights.

Relations not so rosy

But relations between the two sides are still difficult.

Commission Vice-president Günter Verheugen angered Moscow on a visit to Tallinn on Monday (2 May) by saying Russia should own up to its occupation of the Baltic states after World War II.

The move followed Riga's decision to attach a unilateral political declaration to its 1997 border treaty with Russia condemning the Soviet empire's role in the region.

According to agency reports, Moscow's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has refused to sign the Latvian treaty unless Riga removes the text.

Mr Lavrov also called Mr Verheugen's remarks, "an insult not only to the memory of the countless victims of fascism, but to all the heads of state who will come to Moscow to help us celebrate this scared date in human history."