The EU and Russia have a multitude of common interests. Most Russian exports go to the EU, and Russia is the Union's single most important energy supplier. Both the EU and Russia want their common neighbourhood to be stable and prosperous. Both sides support strong international institutions, and they worry about international terrorism and the spread of weapons of mass destruction.

Nevertheless, the EU and Russia have not found a way of working together constructively. The EU is concerned about Russia's autocratic tendencies, its use of energy resources for political purposes and its bullying of smaller neighbours. Moscow often finds the EU's approach arrogant and intrusive, and prefers to work directly with the big member-states. Plans to build four 'common spaces' in economics, education and research and internal and external security have made little headway. Forthcoming negotiations on a new EU-Russia treaty could re-open divisive debates about whether the EU and Russia share common values and how they should structure their bilateral relations.

The CER Russia programme explores why EU-Russia relations have not lived up to potential and what the two sides could do to improve them. Our work on energy and developments in the European neighbourhood is particularly relevant here.