European Union

The Delegation of the European Commission to Russia was opened in Moscow in February 1991.

Starting from 1 December 2009 with the Lisbon Treaty entering into force, the Delegation of the European Commission is transformed into the Delegation of the European Union to Russia.

The Delegation in Moscow is one of over 130 European Union Delegations around the world.

The Delegation has the status of a diplomatic mission and officially represents the European Union in Russia.

The institutions of the European Union are the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union, the Court of Justice and the Court of Auditors. On 1 January 2007 the European Union completed its fifth enlargement that had started in May 2004. Today the European Union is made up of 27 Members States, has a population of around 500 million and is the largest trading bloc in the world.

The Delegation's mandate includes the following:

• To promote the political and economic relations between Russia and the European Union by maintaining extensive relations with governmental institutions and by increasing awareness of the EU, it’s institutions and its programmes;
• To monitor the implementation of the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement between the EU and Russia;
• To inform the public of the development of the EU and to explain and defend individual EU policies;
• To participate in the implementation of the European Union's assistance programmes.