Michael Emerson, the first EU ambassador to Russia, delivered a lecture on EU-Russia trade and economic relations

October 9, 2017 Michael Emerson met with HSE students of "International Trade Policy" master's programme in the framework of his four-day working visit to Russia.

The former ambassador noted that due to the recent entry into force of the three agreements on the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Areas (DCFTA) between the EU and Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine respectively, the development of preferential trade regime systems can be recognized as one of the most pressing topics on the European agenda.

Moreover, Michael Emerson told about the existing difficulties of EU-Russia interaction at both the political and economic levels. The Ambassador addressed a topic of a plausibility of functioning of the EU-EEU FTA. From his point of view, the main challenge in reaching FTA agreement between two supranational organizations is a determination of nature of the hypothetical document. EEC voices objections to asymmetric deal, while the EU seeks to eliminate the maximum number of barriers.

Students asked a lot of questions about EU-Russia relations and EU-EEU cooperation. They were interested in the issues of possible risks for Russian business and economy in case of signing an FTA agreement, as well as the issues of EU readiness for a diplomatic recognition of the EEU.

V.N. Zuyev was a moderator of the discussion between the former ambassador and the graduates.

Michael Emerson is an Associate Senior Research Fellow at the Center for European Policy Studies (CEPS) at this juncture. He also works as a Senior Research Scholar at International Institute of Applied Systems Analyses (IISA).