The EU delegation will be headed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who will be representing the EU's current presidency, and Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission.
Unresponsive To Concerns
On April 23, the EU had a first-hand opportunity to gauge Russian reactions when its officials asked Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during a meeting in Luxembourg to explain the recent crackdown on opposition demonstrations in Russia.
The European Commission's spokeswoman for external affairs, Christiane Hohmann told RFE/RL today that the Russian side has yet to respond to the EU's concerns.
Russia's role in the ongoing dispute over Kosovo's future will be up for discussion during the EU-U.S. summit.
"[The EU] voiced [its] concern over the human rights
situation and the freedom of press in Russia, and also mentioned the events over
the weekend two weeks ago just to make sure that the Russian side is aware of
our concerns on these issues," Hohmann said. "And the Russian side did not react
to it."
After the meeting, Lavrov purportedly quoted the
Enlightenment-era French thinker Voltaire, equating freedom with the obligation
to follow the law, saying the demonstrators had overstepped their rights.
An EU source, who requested anonymity, said that during the
meeting Lavrov responded to questions on Russia's human rights record by
bringing up the situation of Russian-speaking minorities in Latvia and Estonia.
Without commenting directly on the upcoming U.S.-EU summit,
spokeswoman Hohmann said the EU will continue raising the issue in its own
future contacts with Russia.
"We have a regular dialogue with the
Russians on all political levels, including a human rights dialogue, and of
course you know we have an upcoming summit in May where we will bring this up
again because the [European] Commission and [the EU] presidency always bring up
their concerns as far as human rights and the freedom of the press are
concerned," Hohmann said.
'One Voice' Sought
Outlining the agenda of the April 30 EU-U.S. summit, a senior EU official on
condition of anonymity said Russia's prominence in the talks stems from two
reasons. One, the official said, is the need -- mutually acknowledged by the EU
and the United States -- to "speak with one voice" on issues such as respect for
democratic standards, human rights, and fundamental freedoms.
Secondly, he said, the European Union and the United States will also
discuss Russia's role in the ongoing dispute over Kosovo's future, as well as
that in other "frozen conflict" regions. Both the European Union and the United
States also need to engage Russia better in their counterterrorism efforts and
the drive to counteract the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
The senior EU official said Iran's prominence on the EU-U.S.
foreign-policy agenda is explained by the need to prevent it from becoming a
nuclear-weapons nation. Both sides are also concerned about Tehran's activity in
the wider Middle East, and they want to weigh ways of better engaging Iran's
civil society.
Other issues to be addressed during the summit are
Afghanistan, Darfur, the Middle East, and Kosovo. The two sides will also
discuss combating terrorism, data exchange on air travelers, an EU push to get
the United States to lift its visa requirement on new EU member states, climate
change, and global trade issues.