Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 163: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the extent to which he and his EU colleagues have established a working relationship with the new Russian Presidency; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23940/08]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 176: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the extent to which the EU is establishing and improving contacts with the Ukraine, Russia and other former USSR countries; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23953/08]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 163 and 176 together.

The President of the European Council, assisted by the President of the Commission and the High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, will meet President Medvedev, together with Premier Putin and Foreign Minister Lavrov at the next EU Russia Summit in Khanty-Mansiisk, Siberia on 26-27 June. This will be the first EU contact with Russia at the highest level since the political transition there was completed and President Medvedev took office on 7 May. Reflecting the great importance which EU member States generally attach to the next phase of relations with Russia, Germany and the incoming Presidency, France, have recently made high level bilateral visits to Moscow. President Medvedev for his part has visited Germany.

Negotiations for a new EU-Russia agreement are expected to be formally launched at the Summit on 26-27 June. The EU aims to put in place a new legally binding framework for wide ranging cooperation with Russia in the areas of interest to the Union and to Russia. Early signals that President Medvedev has an appreciation of the fundamental importance of the rule of law to Russia's continued modernisation have been noted positively. Ireland and the EU will do what we can to encourage follow through.

EU engagement with Ukraine and other countries of the former USSR has developed rapidly since the 2004 enlargement. However, notwithstanding the road map agreed in 2005 for the "common space of external security," the EU has not yet succeeded in eliciting ongoing cooperation from Russia, which tends still to view EU engagement in terms of a competition for influence in this context.

Using joint Action Plans under the European Neighbourhood Policy, the EU has supported economic and political reform in Ukraine and Moldova since February 2005 and in the South Caucasus countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia) since November 2006. The first EU Strategy for the countries of Central Asia ( Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) was agreed one year ago; progress in the implementation of the Strategy in its first year will be the subject of a report to the European Council later this week. In addition, through its designated Special Representatives for Moldova, the South Caucasus and Central Asia, the EU maintains continuous contact with the authorities of the nine countries in question. This has enabled the EU to play a useful role with others, including the USA and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), in containing and defusing periodic political tensions in, for example, Georgia — a young, fragile democracy in a difficult region.

In a number of elections since the people of Ukraine chose the path of democracy and human rights in the Orange Revolution of 2004, Ukraine has broadly met the standards for democratic elections. Periods of political uncertainty in Ukraine have not prevented steady progress in deepening EU-Ukraine relations. Ukraine recently joined the World Trade Organisation (WTO). There have been eight rounds of negotiations for a New Enhanced Agreement between the EU and Ukraine. The next EU-Ukraine Summit, in Kiev on 9 September, will review the outcome to date and give further guidance with a view to concluding a new agreement next year.