Fyodor Lukyanov: the old format of relations between Russia and the EU is already useless

Fyodor Lukyanov, editor-in-chief of Russia in Global Affairs, Chairman of the Presidium of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, in his publication on the Carnegie Moscow Center website examines the far-reaching consequences of the visit to Moscow of the EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy Josep Borrell. Including the main question: how uncontested is the European Union as a form of organizing the European space and Europe as a reference point for partners?

As is known, relations between Russia and the European Union are developing on the basis of the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement signed in 1994, when the parties proceeded from the postulate that the end of the Cold War opened up opportunities for general European consolidation. If in 1992 the EU included 12 states, then in 2015 there were already 28 of them, and the rest play the role of affiliated participants, while Russia was not considered a candidate for accession at all, as long as development according to the European model did not turn it into a country that was maximally compatible with EU.

Until almost the end of the 2000s, Russia agreed with this, although the divergence with Europe became more and more, especially after 2014, since it was believed that there was no alternative to European integration in this form.

The very process of deteriorating relations from rosy in the 1990s to tense in the 2010s is very instructive. An attempt at a comprehensive partnership of the parties was the culmination of the school of Russian thinking, which for almost two centuries dreamed of Westernizing Russian political practice and goal-setting, and then an opportunity arose to qualitatively change the nature of relations with the West.

However, Russian Westernizers, advocating such interaction, by no means wanted to formally subordinate Russia to European rules and regulations, and after all, in the 1990s, the conversation was about this.

Moreover, by becoming a politically consolidated entity that projects its normative base into the outside world, Europe is building hierarchical relations with its neighbors, and this is already a political reality. Russia, on the other hand, from the very beginning strove to secure a special status for itself, albeit within the framework of the system, with the center in Brussels. However, Europe did not make any concessions to Russia in this sense. Now, if Moscow was really striving to become a part of “Greater Europe,” then concessions were possible, but Russia was unable to change itself so that, in the name of this goal, it would agree to a qualitative limitation of its own sovereignty.

Now the parties are in a state of deep mutual irritation and the actual absence of political relations at the Russia-EU level, and therefore the commotion after Lavrov's words about a possible "break" in relations is not very justified: there have been no relations since 2014 (although they continue with specific countries).

And the scandal with Navalny only exposed the main contradiction: the reason for the sanctions threats was the internal political situation in Russia, and the main reproaches were the violation of democratic norms, human rights and freedoms, intolerable for the European Union. Borrell spoke about this in Moscow. Therefore, the sharply negative reaction of Russia is understandable, because it is not a satellite of the European Union.

The expert believes that it is impossible to return to the previous dialogue between the parties, since the whole world, and not only Russia, Europe and the West, has changed, and the world liberal order has ended. Now everything is based on our own resources in order to minimize any external impact. And Russia is a vivid example of this. Therefore, he will not tolerate the slightest hint of external interference. Moreover, there is nothing to lose here: the "break" with Europe does not contain large costs, since economic ties will continue at the bilateral level, and the pressure of sanctions will have a mutual negative impact.

Moreover, the European Union itself is already undergoing irreversible changes and will not return to the level of 15–20 years ago, when Europe was supposed to become a global player, equal to the United States and China. Now it is clear that this is an illusion, and the real task is to shrink to the framework of a kind of collective West demanded by the United States.

“Considering all the circumstances, the previous format of relations between Russia and the European Union has become not only useless, but may even turn out to be harmful, provoking more and more clashes. The complete alienation of Russia and Europe is impossible for objective reasons - culture, history, economics, geopolitics. So at the next stage, when both Russia and Europe are aware of the directions of their development, a new expansion of cooperation will begin, already without any claims to a formal community”, - the expert concludes.