Brussels, 06/05/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 6 May, as part of the Eastern Partnership initiative, the Council of Europe and the European Union launched a series of projects of a combined value of €4 million over 30 months, intended to support Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine in their reform process. The primary objective is to enable these countries to come closer to the standards established by the EU and Council of Europe in four areas: - public administration and electoral process; - reform of the legal system; - fight against cybercrime; - and the fight against corruption. One part of the aid will consist of providing expertise, while the other will be for facilitating better practical exchange and experience between the states concerned. Claudia Luciani, who heads the political and programming council of the Council of Europe, said this is not an allocation of funding as the development of support provided by the EU Council will be determined by the attitude adopted by participant states. Gunnar Wiegand, Director for Russia, Eastern Europe and the Balkans within the European External Action Service (EEAS), said that, since the Arab uprisings, the EU has become more careful about democratic reform criteria and will set instruments in place to be able to assess them. (J.K./transl.jl)