Dealing with Russia

The 9th Transatlantic Editors' Roundtable in Paris

27.04.2009 · Improving Responsiveness

This year's Editors' Roundtable of the Center for Applied Policy Research (C·A·P) and the German Marshall Fund of the United States took place in Paris on April 16th and 17th, 2009, in cooperation with Le Monde Diplomatique. For the 9th time editors of foreign policy magazines from Europe and the United States came together to discuss important issues concerning the contents of their magazines and the global policy challenges they address. This year the editors consecrated on the topic of "Dealing with Russia: Euro-Atlantic Cooperation under the new US-Administration".

Giles Merritt (Editor, Europe's World, Brussels) speaking

Veronique Bujon-Barré (Deputy to the Political Director of the French Foreign Minister, Paris) and C·A·P's director Werner Weidenfeld

Europe, the United States, and Russia are changing. Professor Werner Weidenfeld of the C·A·P pointed out in his introduction to the first panel, which was dedicated to the intricate triangle of EU, US, and Russia, that people in the United States have to deal with a new infrastructure of power while Europe has as strong political potential but no idea how to use it in an effective way and Russia is still struggling for attention on the political world stage. Ms Isabelle Facon, senior research fellow at the Fondation pour la recherché stratégique, endorsed this assumption. There is still no solid consensus within the European Union on how to deal with Russia. Furthermore, there are differences on this case within the Euro-Atlantic space. Expanding the western model to the world, as the US and the EU are fond of doing, leads to a gap of security perceptions between Russia and the West. Ms. Véronique Bujon-Barré, Deputy to the political director of the French foreign minister, looks at exactly these differing security interests that change the impact of what is possible concerning a new global security architecture and what is only wishful thinking on both sides – namely those of the Transatlantic partners and Russia.

Jamie Shea (Director Policy Planning, Private Office of the Secretary General, NATO, Brussels) and Werner Weidenfeld

The second panel took a close look at the future of the NATO-Russia relations. Mr. Jamie Shea, Director of Policy Planning at the Private Office of the Secretary General at NATO headquarters in Brussels, focused in his introduction on the NATO-Russia Council (NRC), which has gained importance in the last year. At the same time, Shea explained, the NRC seems to be overloaded with some issues that were raised when Russia stepped back on the scene as a powerful global security actor. Nevertheless, the NRC is a necessary element for dialogue in order to prevent misunderstanding. One area where misunderstanding appears on the agenda is the NATO Eastern Enlargement. Here, the principles of arrange should be: talk less, do more. That means that the West, instead of just talking, should help Georgia and the Ukraine become more democratic, so they can then independently succeed in fulfilling the MAP on their way to become NATO members. On the other side, as Mr. Dmitri Trenin, director of the Moscow Center at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, pointed out, we do not stand before a huge, positive shift in Russia. The relationship between Russia and the West is better than ever, not only because it was quite bad before, but also because both sides share the burden of the financial crisis, which will consequently help to strengthen the Russian relations with Europe and the United States.

Karim Mezran (Co-Editor, Geopolitics of the Middle East, Rome) and Alain Gresh (Editor, Le Monde Diplomatique, Paris)

Europe's high demand for energy occupied the topic of the third panel. Mr. Ireneusz Bil, director of the Aleksander Kwasniewski Foundation in Warsaw, sees this energy demand not only as a problem for Europe, but also as a problem for the EU's neighborhood, especially the so-called transit states like Poland or Ukraine. Due to the fact that a high percentage of Europe's gas requirement is provided by Russia, the transit states are dependent on Russia's energy delivery, which secures not only revenues and piping gas to Europe, but also secures the energy supply in the transit states themselves. Beyond that there is diverting interest within both Europe and Russia on how to deal with the question of energy. The European member states want politics kept out of gas market relations, while Russia would like to keep them in. Mr. Florian Baumann, research fellow at the Center for Applied Policy Research (C·A·P) continued this thought and postulated that we, the Europeans, ought to make a decision now. For the lack of an Energy Charta, two points are essential for the European member states: Solidarity and Unity.

James Hoge (Editor, Foreign Affairs, New York), Alan Sorensen (Editor, Current History, Philadelphia), Giles Merritt (Editor, Europe's World, Brussels)

The last panel searched for a solution concerning the future of the strategic triangle "Europe, the United States, and Russia". Mr. Thomas Gomart, director of the Russia/NIS Centre at The French Institute of International Relations (Ifri) in Paris, believes that combining a short-term vision with a long-term concept could provide an outlook for the cooperation of Russia and the West. The long-term concept consists of three points: Diversification of energy supply in Russia, the relations of Russia and the US with China, and the shift of the center of the global security area. Mr. James Nixey, manager and research fellow of the Russia and Eurasia Program at Chatham House in London cautioned not to forget that within the triangle not all states are equal. Russia is still not a truly democratic country. Furthermore, Russia is not interested in good transatlantic relations, since a restoration of EU-US relations by President Obama would mean a loss of Russian influence in Europe. Finally, Mr. Stephen Szabo, director of the Washington-based Transatlantic Academy, considered Germany as a key partner for the United States concerning Russia. Germany has always maintained good relations with Russia and could be a helpful negotiator when it comes to tackling hot topics in Russia-US relations.

Jonathan Tobin (Executive Editor, Commentary Magazine, New York), James Greene (Head, NATO Liaison Office, Kyiv), Marc Plattner (Editor, Journal of Democracy, Washington D.C.)

The intellectually highly stimulating lectures and discussions at the Editors' Roundtable were completed by a dinner speech by Mr. Christophe de Margerie, chief executive officer of Total S.A., who shared his experience of underestimating the value of dealing with Russia for many years.

Werner Weidenfeld and Christophe de Margerie, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Executive Vice President, Total S.A., Paris

We would like to thank the German Marshall Fund of the United States for the generous support of the conference. The German Marshall Fund of the United States is an American public policy and grant-giving institution dedicated to developing the ideas, leaders, and institutions necessary for an effective long-term partnership between the United States and Europe.

Werner Weidenfeld, Nicola Pedde (Editor, Geopolitics of the Middle East and Director, Institute for Global Studies, Rome), John Glenn (Director of Foreign Policy, German Marshall Fund of the United States, Washington D.C.)

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Agenda

List of Participants

Comment by Florian Baumann

Comment by Peter Toft

Comment by Franz Cede

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