In Kaliningrad European Parliamentarians Ponder Possible Effects Of European Union Expansion

A working group of the Committee for EU-Russian Parliamentary Cooperation arrived Thursday from Moscow to the Kaliningrad region, Russia's western enclave. The working group is accompanied by Vladimir Lukin, vice-speaker of the State Duma, the lower chamber of Russian parliament. The group of 20 European parliamentarians already held a meeting with deputies of the local Duma. They discussed problems and possible effects on the Kaliningrad region of expansion of the European Union. State Duma vice-speaker Vladimir Lukin reported that his colleagues from the European parliament, which are for the first time in Kaliningrad, "have already got an impression of what problems are of concern to residents of this region and voiced their opinion on many of them". The delegates will also meet with Kaliningrad Mayor Yuri Savenko, regional administration officials, and representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry in Kaliningrad Artur Kuznetsov. Dominating the above meetings's agenda will be ways of ensuring the region's life support system with account for the upcoming expansion of the European Union.

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