European Union foreign ministers were due to discuss re-starting cooperation talks with Russia amid disagreement over whether Moscow had fully complied with a peace deal in Georgia. Ministers arriving at their meeting in Luxembourg Monday, Oct. 13, indicated that reaching consensus on the strategic Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) talks would be difficult. "We have to take it fairly slowly," said Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb. "I do not expect a decision (on the PCA) to be taken today." Stubb chairs the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which has a military monitoring operation in Georgia. Last Thursday, OSCE monitors said Moscow had pulled its forces out of the buffer zones adjacent to the separatist enclaves of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, one day ahead of the expiry of an Oct. 10 deadline brokered by the EU and agreed by Russia and Georgia.
Ministers arriving at their meeting in Luxembourg Monday, Oct. 13, indicated that reaching consensus on the strategic Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) talks would be difficult.
"We have to take it fairly slowly," said Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb. "I do not expect a decision (on the PCA) to be taken today."
Stubb chairs the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which has a military monitoring operation in Georgia.
Last Thursday, OSCE monitors said Moscow had pulled its forces out of the buffer zones adjacent to the separatist enclaves of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, one day ahead of the expiry of an Oct. 10 deadline brokered by the EU and agreed by Russia and Georgia.
LUXEMBOURG: European Union countries were divided Monday over whether to resume talks on a political and economic pact with Russia that was frozen in protest of its war with Georgia. Germany and Italy led the campaign to resume discussions on trade, energy and political ties after Moscow withdrew its forces from parts of Georgia according to the terms of a cease-fire brokered by the EU. But some EU foreign ministers, headed by David Miliband of Britain, said they wanted to see progress in talks on the future of the disputed Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia before pressing ahead with closer ties. The debate will continue at a two-day EU summit meeting starting Wednesday in Brussels, officials said.
LUXEMBOURG: European Union countries were divided Monday over whether to resume talks on a political and economic pact with Russia that was frozen in protest of its war with Georgia.
Germany and Italy led the campaign to resume discussions on trade, energy and political ties after Moscow withdrew its forces from parts of Georgia according to the terms of a cease-fire brokered by the EU.
But some EU foreign ministers, headed by David Miliband of Britain, said they wanted to see progress in talks on the future of the disputed Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia before pressing ahead with closer ties.
The debate will continue at a two-day EU summit meeting starting Wednesday in Brussels, officials said.
