Negociaciones entre Rusia y España: Lavrov pide “hoja de ruta”

Jan. 12 at a meeting in Moscow, the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov and Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos discussed the possibility of further expansion of cooperation between Russia and the EU. Due to the fact that in this half-year Spain is the Chairman of the European Union, Russia holds the major hope on this partner.

According to Interfax, at the meeting Sergei Lavrov suggested to specify the delay of facilitation of visa regime and then of complete abolition of visas. It is expected to accept the “road map”.

Now any of the EU countries may vote for veto and stop any decision, but this system will change, and decision will depend on a simple majority of votes. That is on what Russia counts, planning to cancel the visa regime.

However, not all EU countries support Russia in this pursuit. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Finland, as Interfax agency reported, believes that this is wrong time for the introduction of visa-free regime, and that Russia cannot sufficiently guarantee the security of its borders. However, in general, Finland supports the plans to create a single world space within few years. But there are many opponents in Europe. In particular, the Europeans fear that if the borders will be opened, the EU countries will be flooded by refugees from the Caucasus and former Soviet republics.

In its decision of immediate adoption of the “road map” Russia relies on the recent promise of Silvio Berlusconi to Vladimir Putin. At that time Spain has agreed to raise the question of Russian entry in the EU, but neither then nor now, no specific date was called.

According to the news agency Interfax, in a meeting with Spanish Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said: “We hope that in the first half of 2010, during the Spanish presidency, there will be progress on several issues, including, of course, the further development of cooperation in the four common spaces, including, of course, negotiations on a new basic agreement, negotiations on the adoption of visa-free regime, strengthen of energy dialogue”.

Also Russian MFA noted that adoption of visa-free regime is equally necessary for the harmonious development of Europe and Russia, so he hopes that agreement on this issue will be reached soon.

His hopes MFA of Russia hold for the next summit of the European Union, where Russia also will take part. It will be held in Russia on May 30 this year.