Taking the floor at the international symposium Russia and Europe in Brussels on Friday, he said that Russia-EU relations have of late become reinvigorated: Russia has become the European Union's fifth largest partner in trade and largest supplier of energy resources to Europe, while the EU is now the largest trading partner of the Russian Federation.
Mingarelli also voiced the hope that the agreement with the EU on Russia's joining the World Trade Organisation would be reached on May 20, on eve of the Russia-EU summit in Moscow.
Also, the spokesman for the EC noted the increasing interdependence between the EU and Russia in international politics.
We are facing challenges threatening the stability, security and prosperity of the entire European continent, Mingarelli stressed.
He spoke up for attaching more sensitivity to political relations between Moscow and Brussels, particularly as regards coordination in resolving what is called "frozen" conflicts in the territory of the former Soviet Union.
Mingarelli also noted that, building up relations of strategic partnership with the EU, Russia should rely on the European values. In this connection, the European Commission expects from Moscow a continuation of the process of democratic reform, strengthening of the legal system and abidance by the fundamental rights and freedoms.
The EC representative also noted the importance of the new mechanism of bilateral cooperation - the standing Russia-EU partnership council which, he said, is to become a site for open and productive dialogue at different ministerial levels.
As regards the Russia-EU summit due in Moscow on May 20, Mingarelli said that at these talks the EU representatives will insist on Russia's ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, providing for setting national quotas for carbon dioxide emission into the air in a bid to prevent global warming of the Earth.
