Russia and Turkey may be invited to EU partnership talks - French FM

"Everyone accepted that, on a case by case basis depending on the subject, we could offer Russia and Turkey the opportunity to join our discussions," said French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner after a meeting with his European Union counterparts in Brussels.  Â

 

"We don’t want to reproduce what has already happened to some extent with NATO, that is to say to give Russia the impression that it is completely surrounded," he added.

 

The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, has proposed granting some 350 million euros ($448 million) in extra aid to 2013 to the EU’s six ex-Soviet neighbors -- Azerbaijan, Armenia Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine and Belarus -- on condition they make significant democratic progress.

 

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana confirmed that "there is the possibility of meetings with Russia and Turkey," as part of the Eastern partnership initiative.

 

He said that the possibility of inviting Russia to some of the partnership discussions had been brought up at the EU meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow earlier this month.

 

As for Turkey, inviting Ankara occasionally would be "natural" given its proximity to the southern nations of the partnership, namely, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia, he added.

 

Europe has been watching anxiously as Russia has flexed its muscles towards its former republics.

 

Recalling the short Russia-Georgia war in August and the gas conflict between Russia and Ukraine in January, which shut off a key gas tap to Europe, EU External Relations Commissioner Ferrero Benita-Waldner said that Europe should seek to prevent conflicts in the region.

 

She also insisted on the importance of their "economic stability", as Ukraine in particular is faced with a serious economic crisis.

 

The Eastern Partnership scheme is aimed at boosting cooperation between the European Union and the six eastern neighbors, including on energy issues, under its "neighborhood" program that allows it to fund economic and political reforms.

 

"We have a crucial strategic interest in their (Eastern Europe’s) economy and political stability," said Ferrero-Waldner on the margins of the EU foreign ministers meeting.