9 June 2012. PenzaNews. Participants of the 29th EU–Russia summit, which ended in St Petersburg on June 4, positively evaluated the outcome of the meeting where they had discussed prospects for political cooperation between the two sides. Vladimir Putin, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President José Manuel Barroso discussed a number of issues, such as: the Partnership for Modernization, trade relations, the issue of visas, New Agreement, cooperation on Syria and Iran.

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At a press conference held after the summit, the President of Russia and heads of the European delegation summed up the results and answered journalists’ questions.

Vladimir Putin called the meeting “certainly useful,” and noted that “this summit has reaffirmed the priority nature of the Russia–EU strategic partnership.” This, according to the President, will make people in both Russia and the EU feel the tangible benefits the partnership brings.

Russian President noted that among other things special attention was paid to the matter of introducing visa-free travel between Russia and the EU countries. According to him, the existing visa barriers are clearly putting a brake on development of the humanitarian contacts and economic ties.

“Of course, our views do not coincide on all issues, but I think we succeeded in reaffirming our commitment to our chosen course and have sent a clear political signal in favor of intensifying our cooperation. Now we must keep up the pace and keep moving forward,” Vladimir Putin concluded.

European officials shared the view of the Russian side. In particular, Herman Van Rompuy suggested that the EU–Russia relationship was enjoying its best dynamics for years. According to him, the summit reconfirmed that the best basis for a closer Partnership should be an ambitious and comprehensive bilateral New Agreement, that includes trade and investments.

“I see the further development of the Partnership for Modernization as one of the priorities in our relations. It should be a partnership that covers all aspects of modernization: the economy, society and the Rule of law,” the politician emphasized.

According to him, visa free travel remains the countries’ common goal because easier contacts between people are the backbone of closer relations.

Russian and the EU leaders also touched upon a number of foreign policy issues, including the situation in Syria, which Herman Van Rompuy described as “appalling.”

“The European Union and Russia might have some diverging assessments, but we fully agree that the Annan Plan as a whole provides the best opportunity to break the cycle of violence in Syria, avoiding a civil war, and in finding a peaceful lasting solution,” Herman Van Rompuy stated.

José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission reminded that the EU is already Russia’s biggest commercial partner and its biggest source of Foreign Direct Investment.

“Russia’s WTO accession opens additional opportunities for trade and for the development of our bilateral economic relations. We believe this can be very important for the future,” President of the European Commission said.

Furthermore, the politician noted that the countries had made significant progress in negotiations on an upgraded EU–Russia Visa Waiver Agreement, which had to be finalized soon.

“This summit confirmed the important common interests that we share and our willingness to build stronger relations and work even closer together. And I am sure that we will succeed in the partnership with Russia,” José Manuel Barroso concluded.

Unlike the politicians, many international experts hold the opinion that the summit did not produce tangible results.

In particular, the expert of the European Council on Foreign Relations Jana Kobzova in her commentary to news agency PenzaNews expressed the view that although there were many issues to discuss, there had been little progress on them.

“Russia mainly focuses on the issue of visas. Negotiations on an upgraded Visa Facilitation Agreement between the EU and Russia continue,” the analyst said.

The expert reminded that the EU and Russia agreed on a number of “common steps” which both sides need to take. This would ultimately facilitate the existing regime and allow more people to travel to the EU with no fees for visas and with fewer documents.

“Russia needs to substantially improve its border management and increase document security. On this issue, there has been little progress on the Russian side, which is worrying – because if Russia does not make progress on these technical issues, it will be very difficult if not impossible for the EU to move on to a visa-free regime with its largest neighbor,” Jana Kobzova stated.

Evgeniya Vojko, foreign policy expert of the Russian Center of Political Conjuncture also believes that “concrete steps towards the solution of this problem have not yet been taken.”

“Despite assurances from the European side that Brussels is ready for the abolition of visas, the situation has not changed for the better, at least it had not changed so that it would suit Russia,” the expert said.

In general, the meeting of the top officials from the EU with newly re-elected Vladimir Putin, according to her, was aimed at defining the contours of cooperation between Moscow and Brussels to the medium term.

“European and Russian officials decided not to touch on controversial issues in order not to spoil the positive format of the negotiations,” Evgeniya Vojko said.

In addition, the expert noted that such issues are usually discussed either on a bilateral basis, or at other institutions and organizations where it is possible to find the solution or come to a compromise.

“Russia is used to develop relationships with each European country discretely and finds it more convenient to discuss, for example, visa facilitation in bilateral format, rather than doing it at the level of the European Union as a single institution,” the analyst said.

Evgeniya Vojko explained it by the fact that in organizational terms, the EU is “quite inert union,” and the solution of any problems, according to her, is hampered by the need to discuss the issue with each of the EU countries.

Well-known political analyst Alexander Rahr shared the opinion of the Russian expert and also suggested that at this stage, Russia prefers to negotiate directly with Germany and France.

Nevertheless, according to him, the issue of visa regime abolition is not being solved quickly enough, and the EU–Russia summit did not get things moving.

“Visas are being discussed since 2002. Then Vladimir Putin said that Russia would cancel visas for Europeans. Ten years have passed. For ten years we have been going around in circles,” the analyst said.

The expert thinks that the parties groped for a way to cooperate when they used to discuss the road map. Now, however, the expert does not see any clearness in dealing with visa issues.

Furthermore, Alexander Rahr reminded that the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and the Russian Federation expired 5 years ago.

“Watching the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) or the meetings of the Russian Federation and China, I saw more results, more proposed projects which were pragmatic and rational. And amid all the Asian meetings, which involved Russia, it seems that Russian geopolitics and geostrategy have refocused on Asia; and with Europe, Russia just continues to carry on a polite conversation,” the political analyst concluded.

The EU–Russia summits are held twice a year: once in Russia and once in the country holding the EU’s rotating presidency.

At the previous summit which took place in December 2011 in Brussels, the meeting participants discussed the key issues of cooperation between the countries: energy cooperation, visa-free regime between Russia and the EU, financial and economic situation in the Eurozone and the situation in the crises spots around the world.