The 2007 portuguese Presidency of the European Union and Russia

Abstract

The relations between the European Union (EU) and Russia have attained today a pick of tensions since their inception in the 90’s and dialogue on European affairs is broadly stagnated. As compared to other member states, especially after the 2004 enlargement, Portugal has maintained neutral or even good relations with Moscow. This paper aims at analyzing the impact of the 2007 Portuguese EU presidency on EU-Russia relations. Although Portugal assumed presidencies earlier, in 1992 and 2000, the 2007 leadership corresponds to a particular strained context that later materialized in a clear degradation of the dialogue with Moscow.