Interfax's Interview

 Mr. Verhofstadt, what do you expect from your upcoming visit to Russia? What subject are you planning to discuss in Moscow?

 In general terms, I expect further strengthening of our excellent relationship with Russia.

 As we are now member of the UN Security Council, I plan to discuss important international issues such as the peacekeeping operation in Congo, the future of Kosovo, how to contribute to peace in the Middle East and how to prevent nuclear proliferation in Iran and North Korea.

 I also want to strengthen our economic cooperation by promoting mutual investments, cooperating more closely in the gas and diamond business and of course meeting with Russian businessmen.

 I’ll take the opportunity to promote our vision of Europe, within the EU and with relation to Russia, and to pay special thanks to those who helped to organize the Europalia Russia festival in 2005, which attracted more than a million people.

 Do you share the view by a number of experts that economic cooperation between Belgium and Russia is not intensive enough? What do you think should be done to improve it?

 Our cooperation is pretty intensive already .Russia is the fastest growing market among our 20 main customers. We buy more than a third of our oil from Russia and we are the main market for Russian diamonds.

 Mutual investments are growing fast. From the Russian side, Alrosa, Gazprom, Lukoil and Novolipetsk Steel are either already in Belgium or developing projects to invest there. From our side, Inbev and Glaverbel for instance have a substantial share of the Russian beer and glass market respectively.

 Still, some of our EU partners are doing more than us. So we're working on a lot of issues : we would like to sign an investment protection treaty, to develop more business contacts, to sign an agreement providing for more frequent air flights to Brussels, to sign a road traffic agreement, to present Belgium as an attractive destination for Russian investment, to sign a letter of intent on cooperation in the nuclear field...We also intend to designate a customs attache in Moscow. We are streamlining our visa procedure to cope with the high demand and improve our service.

 You are known not only as a political figure but also as a prominent researcher and author of a number of works dealing with problems of the European Union and European integration. What do you think of the situation surrounding the conclusion of a new partnership and cooperation agreement between Russia and the EU, the negotiations on which have been blocked by Poland? What do you think of the establishment of some joint institutions between the EU and Russia or even Russia’s complete integration into the EU?

 Of course, we were not happy with the Polish veto and we hope that the problem will be solved soon, through good will from both sides.

 We need to take a strategic and ambitious view and to keep our eyes on the prize : that means among others a deep and comprehensive free-trade zone with Russia, like with Norway or Switzerland, and free choice of universities for students from Dublin to Vladivostok thanks to the Bologna process.

 The EU has already have plenty of joint institutions or rather discussion formats with Russia : regular summit meetings, permanent partnership council, the economic “dialogues”, which are in fact working groups, etc… If joint structures can provide for a faster pace of work and deeper cooperation, let’s create them, but above all we need to be flexible and results-oriented.

 As to Russia’s complete integration into the EU, I’d say “never say never”. For now, the EU is grappling with enlargement issues and the constitution, and Russia is in no mood to share its sovereignty. We need to focus on pragmatic issues – that’s how the EU started after all – and erase one by one the already fading dividing lines in Europe while developing our common spaces. We don’t know how the EU and Russia and their public opinions will evolve in the long term.

 Following the oil and gas disputes between Russia and Belarus, Europe has again questioned Russia’s reliability as an energy supplier. As the Prime Minister of the country which imports one-third of oil from Russia, do you believe these apprehensions are justified?

 Russia has always been reliable supplier for Belgium and we know for sure that Russia cares deeply about its reputation as a reliable supplier.

Of course, when there are even brief disruptions of supplies, such as occurred during the disputes with Ukraine and Belarus, it does cause considerable anxiety, even in unaffected countries such as Belgium, and it does considerable damage to the image of Russia. There is no way around it.

 We understand and even support the switch to market prices, but if there were to be more disruptions of supplies, Russia’s reputation would be further damaged.

 The French company Suez is expected to sell Distrigaz in the course of its merger with Gaz de France. What do you think of Gazprom’s possible purchase of  the Belgian national gas distribution company ? Do you see more potential benefit or danger in this deal ?

 We welcome investors from any country. I hope there will be a lot of competition for these assets.

 By the way we welcome the intent of Fluxys and Gazprom to install a gas storage in Belgium as well as the investment announced by Lukoil in buying 156 gasoline stations in Belgium from ConocoPhillips.

 Potential benefits or dangers don’t depend on who the investor is. They depend on how we apply our own rules and on how we structure our market to avoid unsound monopoly situations.

 Today, liberalization and diversification are key, with or without Gazprom or any other company.

What is your opinion of Russian-Belgian cooperation on the diamond market? What would you say about Alrosa’s plans to increase exports to your country?

 It’s been a very long-standing and very fruitful cooperation. We are the main market for Alrosa and we want to buy as many diamonds as possible from Alrosa.

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