The Russian territory of Kaliningrad will be a focus of discussions by EU foreign ministers today, as it has been at virtually every meeting I have had with the Russian authorities over the past year.
It was raised by President Putin at his meeting with Europe's leaders in Stockholm last month and is on the agenda for next month's EU-Russia Summit, as well as at the Co-operation Council with Russia tomorrow.
It is a priority for the current Swedish presidency of the EU and I visited the region myself with the Swedish Foreign Minister, Ms Anna Lindh, in February.
Why this degree of interest? The answer lies in Kaliningrad's geographical and political situation: a part of Russia but separated from the rest of the Federation, sandwiched between Lithuania and Poland on the shores of the Baltic Sea.
EU enlargement will increase stability and democracy on our continent. Russia stands to gain from new opportunities which it will open up - and Kaliningrad too will be well placed to benefit. But the accession of Lithuania and Poland to the EU also poses a number of practical questions for Kaliningrad in terms of transport links, trade, visas, border controls and so on. We need to find practical solutions to these problems.
At present the people of Kaliningrad move easily across Poland and Lithuania and then eastward into Russia and there are some nine million border crossings each year. Not unnaturally, they are worried that this will change with the accession of Poland and Lithuania into the EU. What sort of border controls will need to be introduced? What sort of visa controls? Will they find that they are no longer able to travel freely to and from metropolitan Russia?
These are serious and sensitive issues. I have no doubt they can be resolved to everyone's satisfaction. But the solutions are not obvious. They will require us to make imaginative use of the flexibility permitted by EU rules.
We have already begun to discuss our ideas with the authorities in Moscow and my visit to Kaliningrad in February confirmed that they had been well received on the ground. And it is crucial to success in Kaliningrad that the local authorities are fully involved in discussions and alive to the new opportunities which will come with enlargement.
EU activity is being matched in Moscow. The Russian government held a special discussion on Kaliningrad on March 22nd. Kaliningrad's Special Economic Zone status has been extended for 10 years and measures have been agreed to help business, to develop local transport and to build up energy and telecommunications infrastructures.
These are all positive steps. But those who dream of Kaliningrad as a Hong Kong of the Baltic need to face up to some formidable obstacles. The region suffers from appalling pollution, for example, and extensive drug and health problems, including a very high incidence of HIV and tuberculosis. It is also a centre of organised crime. Some estimates suggest that more than 50 per cent of Kaliningrad's income now comes from "informal activity", as it is euphemistically known.