YALTA /Crimea/, April 18. /TASS/. Should new parties get into the European Parliament, due to be elected in a month from now, their alternative policies might help improve relations between Russia and the European Union, Russia’s specialist on French affairs, Sergey Fyodorov, of the Institute of Europe under the Russian Academy of Sciences, told the Yalta International Economic Forum.
"A great deal [in Russia-EU relations] is connected with the forthcoming European elections. A wave of parties - let us call them parties of the political alternative that press for the creation of a Europe of nation states - share the ideas close to those of Charles de Gaulle, who was an advocate of precisely this type of the European Union. We hope that in a newly-elected European parliament at least one-third of members will be from the new parties, capable of changing the EU’s course towards relations with Russia. A dialogue, productive and pragmatic, is very desirable," Fyodorov said.
Currently Russia-EU relations are at a very dramatic moment. However, the scholar believes that Brussels is developing the awareness that time is ripe to abandon Russophobia in favor of more constructive relations.
As he dwelt on the situation in Crimea, Fyodorov recalled the problem of the Soviet Union’s breakup.
"The conflict that we are witnesses to in the territory of the former Soviet Union is an in inevitable process. We are being told that the Soviet Union fell apart painlessly, that the Yugoslav scenario managed to be avoided. In the meantime what has happened is clear confirmation that countries’ breakups are never painless," he stated.
The elections to the European Parliament are due on May 23-26, 2019.
The 5th Yalta International Economic Forum is being held on April 17-20. Its main theme is Peace, Russia, Crimea. New World Reality. TASS is the forum’s strategic media partner and official photo host agency.