MINSK, May 29. /TASS/. The European Union, which is experiencing complex internal processes, is not allowed to display independence for the time being, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said while addressing an audience at the Belarussian presidential public administration academy in Minsk on Tuesday.
He said Moscow was interested to see the European Union as a strong, predictable and independent partner.
"However, it is not allowed to display such independence for the time being," Lavrov said.
"Inside the European Union rather controversial and complex processes are underway," he said. "Opinions clash over how it should develop further on. Either to create the United States of Europe the classics of Marxism dreamed in their day and which today’s France would like to emerge, which is seen in its idea of creating a common budget, appointing a common minister of finance and doing many other things that are unmistakable features of a centralized state. On the other hand, many countries are reluctant to lose their ethnic identity, their own face, their history and their traditions."
"In any case we keep a close watch on this, because the European Union, as before, remains Russia’s largest trading partner despite all sorts of restrictions," Lavrov said.