EU-Russia relations revisited: where ‘shared values’ end, and energy begins Andrea Ciambra Scuola Superiore di Catania Università degli Studi di Catania andrea.ciambra@gmail.com Paper prepared for the 2 nd ECPR Graduate Conference PANEL 354 – CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE: ISSUES AND INTERACTIONS II Universitat Autònoma Barcelona – August 25-27, 2008 ABSTRACT The European Union is finally assessing the consequences of its long-term efforts in relations with its proximity neighbourhood: the intersection of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (EMP), the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) and the new enlargements have plotted a complex map of interactions with the southern and eastern borders, which is entitled to the spread of the European governance and acquis, together with the promotion of democracy and human rights. Russia is curiously ‘external’ to conventional instruments of cooperation, and has then adopted several peculiar features for what we can call a ‘privileged partnership’. These tools (Common Spaces, a Common Strategy on security issues, Road Maps, Energy Dialogue) are founded upon an acknowledged economic interdependence, since Russian crude oil and natural gas are the main energy import for the EU, while European products are the main commercial import for Russia. The new domestic dynamics of power and authority under Putin’s Russia, though, have crystallized a dimension of reiterated negation of human rights and basic civil and political freedoms: nonetheless, European governments continue to choose energy overdependence from Russia, neglecting the inward collapse of Russian society, and ignoring all requests from EU institutions to change the terms of the relations towards a more ethic fashion. This paper tries to analyse the consequences of such an interdependence on the credibility of the external relations of the EU; the weird relation between the political will of Russia, the member states and Brussels’s institutions; the possibility for a turn, in the domestic dimension of ‘political space’ in Russia, thanks to the efforts of a democratising and ethic economic partner such as the EU. Keywords: energy security; pipeline diplomacy; European Neighbourhood Policy; energy dialogue Comments are welcome. This work is subjected to Creative Commons Licence for its whole extent. The work must be attributed in the manner specified by the author or licensor; it CANNOT BE used for commercial purposes. Whoever alters, transforms, or builds upon this work, MUST distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one.