Free trade agreement dispute could sour EU's relations to Russia

Beginning May 2004, commercial relations with Russia should be carried out according to the EU so-called Partnership and Cooperation Agreement. However, Russia refused to extend the agreement to the new member countries unless 14 conditions were met. "In many points we can negotiate with our Russian partners, in order to defend joint interests of the country as well as the EU," said French Foreign Affairs Minister Dominique de Villepin. (Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 22) M.M.