European Security Pact

President Medvedev has been on his second working visit to France this week, and met with President Sarkozy on March 1st. Preparations for the forthcoming G8 and G20 summits were high on the agenda, as was the Iranian nuclear programme.
 

In the context of NATO's rejection of President Medvedev's proposed European Security Pact, Georgian troops are to come under US command in Afghanistan. In order to prepare the Georgian unit for deployment in March 2010 and follow-on deployments, U.S. Marine Forces, Europe, are engaging in a training program called the Georgia Deployment Program-International Security Assistance Force or GDP-ISAF.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has said that he sees no need for a new security treaty, as proposed by Russia.  This rebuff to the Kremlin’s calls for new defence arrangements in Europe may be seen as a setback for President Medvedev, the architect of the plan, or it may give him a chance to cause a split in Europe’s NATO ranks. Sarkozy and Merkel are known to be highly supportive of the plan.   

The sixth round of Russian-Italian interstate consultations was held last week under the chairmanship of President Medvedev, who was making his third trip to Italy this year, and Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi.

The Czech government, to the dismay of the eurosceptics, has indicated that the country will ratify the Lisbon Treaty in the very near future.
 

Medvedev's proposed European Security Pact seems to be garnering more interest. During this week's visit to Switzerland, the Russian president won the support of his Swiss counterpart Hans Rudolf Merz. "We value the positive attitude of Swiss colleagues to the idea proposed by Russia to develop a legally binding agreement on European security," Medvedev said.
 

Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev this week reaffirmed his commitment to the idea of a new European security pact.
 
He told an international security conference in the Russian city of Yaroslavl on Monday that the proposal is not directed against any nation, stating that any new agreement should help improve rapport among the European nations.