The European Union said today it was ready to restart stalled talks with Russia on a partnership agreement despite lingering concerns over the presence of Russian troops in Georgia.
EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said a new round of negotiations could be scheduled after a long-planned EU-Russia summit on Friday and a subsequent November 18th meeting in Geneva on the conflict.
"The (EU) presidency statement clearly backs the position of the (European) Commission that we must go on with our negotiations," Ferrero-Waldner told a news briefing after EU foreign ministers met on the matter in Brussels.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said 26 of the 27 EU states had backed the restart of talks with Russia.
Lithuania had before the meeting made clear it opposed the relaunch of talks but that EU rules meant it was unable to veto them.
The EU postponed talks on the wide-ranging political and economic pact after Russia's August incursion into Georgia.
Earlier, EU officials stressed that the decision to restart would not mean EU-Russia ties were back to "business as usual", noting concerns as to whether Russia had fully implemented the terms of a French-brokered peace deal that ended the conflict over Georgia's South Ossetia region.
Reuters