Liubov Zagorulko - Master's Student MGIMO University, Moscow

         Kaliningrad's issue was a very popular some years ago when 10 new countries, including Poland and Lithuania joined the EU. Now it seems to be less vital for Russian politicians and the most part of Russian population. But it is still important for residents of the region. And it could have a profound impact on Russian- EU relations. The question is what kind of impact? It could become only one of the controversial issue or an example of opportunities for the future. The former scenario is simple: using foreign policy issues as an instrument in domestic politics is natural for almost every political system. It can’t be done, however without any losses, above all loss of opportunities.

            That’s why the most probable scenario seems to be a kind of freezing the situation. Other words,  it is the most convenient to preserve a current situation, avoiding discussions and disagreement. Russian society and political community show little interest in the problem. Current domestic difficulties it hard for the European Union to pay sufficient attention to the issue.

           At the same time, there is a number of opportunities for Kaliningrad and for Russia itself to establish more effective and more successful relations with the EU. First of all, it could offer a new modality of relations based on variety of interrelations rather than on political statements and declarations.

       Secondly, it is interregional cooperation that is very important for the EU. Kaliningrad could be integrated into such regional system of relations.  It would be an effective way to understand the logic of regional cooperation in the EU and the logic of the EU development itself. In turn, it would help to understand nature of Russian social life.   Such an activity would be practical and fruitful because of smaller level of political bias. 

          Thirdly, Kaliningrad could become so called experimental platform for pilot projects between Russia and the EU, including special visa regime or free trade zone. Although such projects can be considered as rather unlikely and difficult for implementation at the moment, it is not impossible at all but depends on political will and activity of  a society. Even preparation for such project could demonstrate economic, legal and other differences between Russia and the EU.  The diagnosed cleavage should be negotiated and every possible solutions could be found by discussions. Recent agreement between the EU and  South Korea demonstrates flexibility and realistic approach to establishing of relations with important partners. It is high time to reach mutually advantageous cooperation between Russia and the EU, at least on the interregional level.

         It should be emphasized that political will could only provide the framework for cooperation. The genuine partnership should be established between business and social communities. It means that there is a need of mutually acceptable, clear and simple rules of business activity.  Despite the fact the EU is facing economic difficulties the cooperation would be profitable for both sides. In turn, such relations should be based on well grounded calculations in order to prevent Russian side from being disappointed.

         In theory governments express support the third scenario of closer cooperation between Kaliningrad and the EU. In fact, there is an obvious  lack of practical steps to make Kaliningrad's issue a source of opportunities rather than a cause of misunderstanding.