EU Parliamentary talks with Russia have been proceeding for the renewal of the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA), which is the bilateral basis for EU relations with Russia. It is a 5;mixed5; agreement covering matters falling under EU and under national competence of the Member States.

Elmar Brok, who heads the parliament’s external relations committee, said:
“I think in the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement which has to be renewed or renegotiated next year, we want to have a deeper relationship between the Russian Federation and the European Union; The European Parliament will have at the end of the day to ratify such an agreement.”

Russian foreign minister Serguei Lavrov said:
“Many of them (euro-deputies) after the meeting expressed the interest in continuing this type of dialogue, I am sure that this dialogue will be further continued.”

Discussions would centre on four main common areas of interest: economic, justice, security and education. Lavrov added that the PCA signed ten years ago does not meet today’s needs. For its part, the EU is increasingly keen to see a bilateral Energy Treaty ratified by Russia. It was established six years ago.

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