On
9th and 10th November an
international workshop about the changes
and perspectivity of contemporary
Russia was held at the University of Padua.
The
European debt crisis is not only forcing the population of the continent
to the immense sacrifices
through harsh austerity
measures but is also eroding
the ability of Europe (and the U.S.) to exert political
influence on many countries in
difficulty. Of this power vacuum
they are taking advantage of some states, such as Russia, China and Turkey, more dynamic economically and with a more aggressive foreign policy. Among them,
to have higher interest on Europe is just Moscow.
Russia
has joined the
World Trade Organization (WTO). This
is particularly important for adhesion
to the EU: the EU is the main trading partner of Russia, which, in turn, is the third largest trading partner of the EU. For the first time, Russia and the EU will be bound by rules and obligations in multilateral reciprocal
trade. ""Today's WTO accession is a major step for
Russia's further integration into the world economy", said EU Trade
Commissioner Karel De Gucht. "It will facilitate investment and trade,
help to accelerate the modernisation of the Russian economy and offer plenty of
business opportunities for both Russian and European companies. I trust that
Russia will meet the international trading rules and standards to which it has
committed." [1]
In
the economic field the main reason for this approximation is due to the energy resources that Russia has, and Europe
imports in massive quantities. But
in addition to the exchange of gas
and oil, the economic relations between
the two areas are characterized by the increasing number of investments that Russian investors are
buying in Western countries.
The
global crisis has hit hard the Russia,
but for a limited period. As of
today, we can say that it is out
of the crisis, but with a growth rate halved compared to the past decade.
Russia
is trying to exert influence
on some European countries such as Greece or Cyprus,
that are in crisis. Russia is taking
advantage of the lack of political will of the European Union, that it doesn’t seems so
united.
The
conference was particularly
interesting from the first to the last intervention.
Many improvements have been discussed and presented and ample space is given to the relationship between Russia and the European Union.
Many improvements have been discussed and presented and ample space is given to the relationship between Russia and the European Union.
Good idea to write about the conference here in Padova, I only managed to see one paper, but the programme looked very interesting. Well done!
RispondiEliminaMidway through 2012, the Russian economy is growing at a reasonable speed, foreign debt is almost non-existent, the budget is, for the moment, roughly in balance, and the opposition is still fragmented and leaderless. This would seem to be a uniquely poor recipe for a successful revolutionary change. Basically, everything hinges on the trajectory of the Russian economy, and it really doesn’t seem to be doing poorly at the moment. This is particularly true when you compare Russia’s decent performance with the consistently awful performance of the EU and the Eurozone, both of which appear to be in outright recession.
RispondiEliminaSo, in this moment it is important understand the relations between Russia and EU.