Lithuania threatens to block EU-Russia talks
VILNIUS (AFP) — Lithuania on Friday threatened to block the start of EU talks with Russia, highlighting a series of disputes it has with its former Soviet overlord.
"We looked at the proposal of the Slovenian presidency (of the EU) and we cannot accept it without reservations," Violeta Gaizauskaite, spokeswoman for Lithuania's foreign ministry, told AFP Friday.
"We believe that not all our remarks were taken into account, so negotiations have to continue" within the 27-nation EU before Lithuania can approve talks with Russia, she said. "We cannot accept this proposal".
Any EU member state can block talks between the bloc and third countries. Lithuania, which is wrangling with Russia over a series of issues, has stepped up pressure in recent months.
It has called on EU partners to give support over its own problems with Russia, such as the 2006 shutdown of a pipeline which supplied Lithuania's only oil refinery.
Lithuania hardened its stance after Russia's announcement this month that it is boosting links with the separatist Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Besides energy, Gaizauskaite has cited three other concerns, referring to "Russia's international obligations, Russia's cooperation in legal affairs as well as the resolution of frozen conflicts in Georgia and Moldova", where Russia has strong ties with separatist movements.
Lithuanian President Valdas Admakus argued this week that the European Union and NATO should take a more positive approach to Georgia and work towards its "more rapid European integration". He pleaded without success at a recent NATO summit for Georgia to be invited to join the alliance.
EU foreign ministers will meet in Luxembourg on Monday to discuss negotiations with Moscow on a new 'Partnership and Cooperation Agreement.
EU ambassadors met in Brussels on Thursday to discuss Lithuania's concerns. "Only one of our four major issues was seriously taken into account," Gaizauskaite said, declining to elaborate.
She did not say if Lithuania was planning an outright veto on the start of talks with Moscow.
Lithuania is in effect calling for Russia to be taken off the agenda for the EU foreign ministers meeting. The EU's Slovenian presidency has so far rejected this.
"There is a lot of pressure on us. But if it remains this way we will not give in. If the issue remains on the agenda we could use our veto," a Lithuanian diplomat in Brussels said.
A Russian official has warned that conditions imposed by Lithuania could complicate talks on the new EU-Russia deal, already deemed difficult amid differences over Kosovo, Georgia and US security shield plans.
Poland put the brakes on the start of the EU-Russia talks for more than a year because of a trade spat with Moscow. Warsaw dropped its objections last month, leaving Lithuania as the only stumbling block.
All EU nations, with the exception of Lithuania, are keen to move ahead on a deal with Russia, deemed crucial to improve relations which have deteriorated under President Vladimir Putin.
The EU and Russia hold summits each year and numerous working group discussions but the over-arching bilateral accord is based on a deal reached in 1997 when Russia was still in convalescence following the break-up of the Soviet Union.
The new accord will address Europe's massive dependency on Russian energy and review human rights, an increasing European concern regarding Putin's Russia.
The EU hopes the talks can be launched at an EU-Russia summit in Siberia on June 26-27, when new president Dmitry Medvedev, will represent Russia for the first time.
