The head of the EU diplomatic mission in Moscow, Markus Ederer, in an interview with TASS talks about the opportunities for dialogue with Russia, the developments in Ukraine, Moldova and Kazakhstan, as well as Iran.

- Ursula von der Leyen will be the new head of the European Commission. What does this fact mean for the EU, for EU-Russia relations?

- First of all, I think her election in the European Parliament was a good day for Europe. I’d like to remind you that this was a comparatively fast process for determining the European leadership after the elections. As you remember it took much more time 5 years ago. So, now the future EU top leadership is complete. It needs to be noted that Madame von der Leyen is the first woman at the helm of the European Commission. We will also see more women commissioners, she has announced that. And I believe that, when it comes to foreign and security policy, of course, it’s very much in the hands of the designated High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission Mr Borrell and the EU Member States. Of course, the Commission President has an important role to play.

I would refer you to her "Political guidelines for the next European Commission 2019-2024" where the future European Commission President has highlighted some landmark objectives such as, inter alia, protecting our European way of life, a stronger Europe in the world and further bold steps in the next 5 years towards a genuine European Defense Union. The future European Commission President's recent interviews should be read in the perspective of these and her other headline goals.

We will know more once the European Commission is aggregated as a whole by November 1 and takes up its work.

- Not too long ago, you said that the changes in Ukraine and the appointment of new leaders of European institutions open now opportunities for a meeting between the EU and Russia. When can we expect the meeting, and at what level such a meeting could take place?

- I remember that event, but I need to insist that I be quoted correctly. So let me repeat what I said then. I said, first of all, that we note in 2019 the absence of the type of incidents which we have seen in 2018 (Salisbury, the Kerch incident and so on), which already points to some improvement of the situation. Secondly, I said that we saw a positive development with the return of Russian deputies to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. And we would expect to make progress also on 2 other important issues which affect the EU-Russia relationship. One is progress on and the implementation of the Minsk Agreements. And the other one is the success of the trilateral gas talks between Russia, Ukraine and the European Commission on future gas transit through Ukraine post-2019. I have, with regard to Russia-Ukraine relations welcomed the progress on military disengagement in Stanytsia Luhanska. In the interim, we have witnessed a first phone call between the Russian and the Ukrainian Presidents, which is also a positive development.

And we can only hope that the new chances provided by the new Ukrainian President, making positive steps towards the implementation of the Minsk agreements would be used wisely by all sides to make progress on this important issue. "Wisely" implies a positive attitude rather than complicating matters further, such as what we saw immediately after President Zelensky’s election with Russia’s announcement to facilitate the issuing of Russian passports to Donbass residents.

My take is: if this year we see a continuous absence of such incidents as described and if we see progress in the areas which I have mentioned, then it seems to me that possibly towards the end of the year or the beginning of the next year, we could witness the opening of a window of opportunity in EU-Russia relations. That window would need to be used by both sides, and I think it will provide for a new chance to soberly assess the EU-Russia relationship, where differences remain, where common interests prevail, how to stabilize and possibly even move the relationship forward.

By that time we will have not only a new Ukrainian leadership in place, also after the elections to the Verkhovna Rada; we will also, as of November 1, have a new EU leadership in place. To answer your question, I think only then we can talk about eventual meetings, as none of these EU leaders have taken their office while we speak. And those meetings, if at all, would then be also a result of using the opportunities I have mentioned.