EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson believes that EU-Russia relations could deteriorate even further unless clearer rules are imposed for the global energy trade, Britain's "Financial Times" reported on April 20, citing the advance text of a speech that Mandelson is slated to deliver in Bologna, Italy, later the same day. Mandelson argued that bilateral relations have reached "a level of misunderstanding or even mistrust we have not seen since the end of the Cold War," with each side believing that the other uses energy as a political weapon. He added that "neither thinks they enjoy the respect and goodwill from the other they are entitled to expect." Mandelson stressed that "unless we comprehend our different perceptions of the landscape left behind by the last century, we risk getting the EU-Russia relationship badly wrong." He also warned that the lack of unity within the EU on how to deal with Russia is "frankly alarming.... No other country reveals our differences as does Russia." PM // Copyright (c) 2005. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. RFE/RL


Publication date: 20 April 2007   

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