Brussels, 26/09/2011 (Agence Europe) - The Eastern Partnership summit, considered by the Polish Presidency of the EU Council as one of the high points during its half-year term in office, will be held on Thursday 29 and Friday 30 September, in Warsaw (Poland). Organised by Poland's prime minister, Donald Tusk, and the president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, the summit will bring together delegations of the 27 EU member state (mainly heads of state or government, except for France, the United Kingdom and Italy), the six partner countries (Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia and, subject to reserve, Belarus), the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, and the EU foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton. Attention in recent months has been focused on the Arab spring, but Warsaw is seeking - by establishing a link between the events in the south and the democratic and European aspirations of the countries in the east - to give the Eastern Partnership its rightful place among the priorities of European neighbourhood policy. A historic ally of Eastern Partnership countries, Poland hopes to manage to rapidly conclude talks on the association agreement and the deep and comprehensive free trade agreement (DCFTA) with Ukraine, despite the fact that the trial of the former prime minister, Yulia Timoschenko, is still ongoing - a dossier that remains a thorny source of tension in EU-Ukraine relations (see EUROPE 10443). The verdict, initially due in early September, has been deferred until 27 September, and it is difficult to believe that this has no link with talks underway as part of the Eastern Partnership. Furthermore, the Polish Presidency would like talks to be rapidly opened on two other DCFTAs, with Georgia and Moldova, but this will depend on whether the Commission provides its authorisation to do so. Until Friday 23 September, it was not certain whether Belarus would be invited. However, the suspense was broken on Friday when Poland's Foreign Minister Rados³aw Sikorski finally announced that a formal invitation would be proffered to his Belarusian counterpart, Sergei Martynov, the Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko, being persona non grata on EU territory since the continued crackdown on demonstrators following his re-election in 2010. Despite the ambitions of the Polish Presidency, no major breakthroughs are expected to come out of the summit. Warsaw would like to give tangible prospects of EU membership to the Eastern Partnership members or at least ease visa requirements, but such proposals are far from obtaining the support of other member states, especially France and Germany. (JK/transl.jl)