The Bilateral Relations of EU Member States with Russia

A preliminary study by the EU-Russia Centre

One of the main reasons for the EU's failure to speak and act as one towards Moscow is the very substantial number of bilateral relationships that many member states enjoy with Russia.

This study outlines some of the main factors influencing an individual state's relations with Russia, demonstrating the complexity of decision-making processes. These include, but are not limited to, trade, volume of investments, geography, history and energy dependence.

It concludes that the prospects of the EU speaking with one voice towards Russia are not particularly good, but insists that, as Lord Paddy Ashdown states 'The challenge for the EU Member States is to recognise the limits of pursuing bilateral approaches and agree a common policy towards Russia in as many areas as possible.

– Most EU countries have greatly increased their trade with Russia over the past five years, which has resulted in the latter becoming the EU's third largest trading partner.

– Of a total of EUR72,360m of EU exports in 2006, the largest exporters to Russia are Germany EUR23,132m and Italy EUR7,639m.

– With total import levels in 2006 at EUR140,586m, Germany again leads with EUR29,023m followed by the Netherlands EUR17,018m.

– EU countries whose exports exceeded imports in 2006 included Austria and Denmark.

– Summits are a good indication of the depth of bilateral relationships and levels of economic co-operation.

Germany has far and away the most intense relationship with Russia, with 16 summits during the past three years alone, supplemented by a dense network of ministerial and official consultations. Italy follows with seven summits over the same period.

– Gas and oil imports have remained high for those countries who were in the Soviet bloc (seven countries are almost 100% dependent on Russian energy supplies) while imports to several other member states have risen steadily.

– Ten EU countries have a dependence of 5% or less on Russia for gas.

– Foreign Direct Investment in Russia has grown correspondingly over the period, led by the Netherlands at EUR2,946m.

– Russians increasingly visit EU countries, despite complex and often cumbersome visa requirements – the most popular destinations are Finland, Estonia, Poland, Lithuania and Germany.

– Germany has the largest Russian immigrant population at an estimated 3.6% of the total population, the second largest Russian population is to be found in Spain.

Michael Davenport, Director of Russia, South Caucasus and Central Asia Directorate of the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office said of the research, «The Centre makes a valuable contribution to thinking on EU-Russia relations. The EU and Russia face many of the same global challenges, ranging from climate change and energy interdependence, to international security issues, to illegal migration, drug trafficking and organised crime. Serious research and independent analysis are vital if both the EU and Russia are to get the most out of the relationship.

The EU-Russia Centre is a valuable resource for policy-makers and diplomats.»

For further information and copies of the research, visit www.eu-russiacentre.org.

№2(19), 2008