EU heeft vertrouwen in nieuwe strategische overeenkomst met Rusland (en)

The EU is hoping to start negotiations covering future strategic relations with Russia in November after a bilateral summit but some new member states remain deeply mistrustful of the bloc's giant neighbour to the east.

"It seems quite clear we can finalise the mandate - there were no substantial differences," Finnish foreign minister Erkki Tuomioja said after EU ministers over the weekend discussed the new negotiating mandate for updating the current agreement with Moscow.

"The negotiations then will be a prolonged process naturally starting after the summit, but from the EU point of view, we have a clear understanding of how we want to proceed," continued Mr Tuomioja, whose country currently chairs the EU.

But some EU member states remain wary of Moscow and want Brussels to push a hard line in its relations with Russia.

Czech foreign minister Cyril Svoboda told Reuters that the mandate was "more or less" acceptable" and urged a "very strong and tough" negotiating stance.

And Poland expressed concern about how to secure the EU's energy supply.

"Poland is very much concerned about energy security. We are too much dependent on one source of energy, on one direction of energy supply," said Polish foreign minister Anna Fotyga.

Spain's Miguel Angel Moratinos indicated that in order for an agreement to be reached on time "everybody will have to make an effort to get there."

At the moment, Russia's relations with the EU are governed by a so-called Partnership and Co-operation Agreement (PCA) - but the ten-year agreement, covering political dialogue and economic and trade relations, runs out in 2007.

EU diplomats present at the ministerial meeting in Finland noted that the original PCA had been drawn up "with little awareness" of the bloc's energy dependency on Russia, when the EU itself has less powers in justice and home affairs and when there was no prospect of Russia becoming a member of the WTO i.

But the EU's dependency on energy from Russia - it supplies up to 25 percent of the bloc's needs - has now changed the power stakes, with state monopoly Gazprom before the summer publicly threatening that it could deliver its gas supplies elsewhere if investment opportunities in Europe were blocked.

There is also a growing awareness among some EU member states of Russia's importance on the world stage with its position on international questions on Iran proving key.

Into this mix come central and eastern European member states - particularly Poland and Lithuania - who would not sign up to an agreement which they feel pursues too soft a line on Russia.

One EU diplomat summed the approach towards Moscow in the EU as falling into two camps "those that think of EU-Russia ties geo-strategically and the neighbours of Russia."

"Russia is a strategic partner. Russia is a very important neighbour and Russia sometimes is also an ally, but it is also a more and more assertive player on the world stage, so we have to get this relationship right," said EU external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner i on Saturday.