MOSCOW – Russia is “an Arctic state” and would welcome a European Union (EU) policy aimed at international cooperation in the region, Kremlin spokesperson said on Wednesday.
Peskov further said that Moscow would view any new EU approach in a positive light that promotes constructive engagement in the Arctic region.
“If representatives of the European Union have in mind a new policy aimed at international cooperation, then this can be welcomed,” he said. “If it implies confrontation, which is now quite fashionable in Brussels, then of course it is unlikely that we can welcome it, and it is unlikely to have any positive effect.”
Earlier, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy said at a conference in Norway that the EU needs a new security policy for the Arctic.
EU-US trade deal
The European Parliament decided on Wednesday to resume legislative work related to proposals approving the European Union – US trade deal.
The legislative process had been suspended on Jan 21 after US President threatened to impose additional tariffs on eight European countries while pressing for the acquisition of Greenland. Trump later canceled the tariff threat.
Bernd Lange, chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade, said in a statement that the committee would advance work on the relevant legislative proposals, on the condition that the United States (US) respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the EU and its member states, and honors the terms of the trade deal.
The EU could suspend the related tariff preferences if US actions were to threaten the essential security interests of the EU or its member states, according to the statement.
Under the EU-US trade deal reached in July last year, the EU would eliminate tariffs on all US industrial products and introduce tariff-rate quotas for a wide range of US agri-food products entering the EU market. In return, Washington would set a 15-percent tariff ceiling on most EU goods exported to the United States.
Lange said that the legislative proposals related to the implementation of the EU-US trade deal could be put to a vote as early as the next meeting of the committee on Feb 24.