Russia – EU expert consultations held on EU Enlargement

Submitted on Mon, 05/13/2019 - 14:40

On 7 May 2019 regular Russia – EU expert consultations on EU Enlargement (COELA) were held in Brussels within the framework of Russia – EU Political Dialogue.

Vladislav Maslennikov, Deputy Director of the Department of European Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, led the Russian delegation. The EU team was headed by Ambassador Ştefan Tinca, Political Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania.

A detailed exchange of views on the situation in the EU enlargement process took place in the course of the consultations. The Russian side stressed the importance of the fact that joining the EU for candidate countries and potential candidates should not be subject to creating artificial barriers to further development of their bilateral relations with Russia.

An agreement was reached to continue this format of consultations.