ROME, May 23 (RIA Novosti) - Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said on Saturday that the European Union should enhance the strategic nature of its relations with Russia.
"Italy has been always stating and will always be that it is necessary to enhance strategic relations between the EU and Russia. Italy has outstanding bilateral relations with Moscow, but we feel that there should be done more at the European level," Frattini said commenting on the results of the Russia-EU summit in the Far Eastern Russian city of Khabarovsk.
Russia reaffirmed on Friday it will not ratify the existing Energy Charter and called for a new energy agreement to ensure future global energy security.
"Failed negotiations on the energy problem have once again displayed EU's inability of finding a common stance on this issue," he said adding that "...Europe cannot develop without Russia and vice versa."
The original Energy Charter was signed in The Hague on December 17, 1991. By ratifying the treaty, Russia would have to give access to its pipelines for free natural gas transit from Central Asia to the European Union. However, Russian companies would not be able to freely access European pipelines.
