The European Economic and Social Council (EESC) hosted a conference on Thursday 5 September on the future of the Eastern Partnership, as part of the consultation launched in May by the European Commission and which will end on 31 October.
The objective is to adopt a new Partnership agenda at the next summit, which is expected to take place in 2020.
While highlighting the successes of the Partnership, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, speakers focused on the changes that need to be made over the next decade. "In ten years, a lot has been done, but there is still a lot to be done", summarised Jeroen Willems, from the European Commission's DG NEAR.
For example, for Indrė Vareikytė, rapporteur for the EESC opinion on the 10th anniversary of the Eastern Partnership, the partnership must be "with partners and not beneficiaries of aid".
Radosław Darski, Deputy Head of the Eastern Partnership Division of the European External Action Service, explained that there were still gaps to be filled, particularly regarding reforms or cooperation with partner countries in the fight against corruption, "less effective than we would have thought". He also highlighted the challenges concerning the independence of the judicial system or oligarchy.
For Mr Willems, the Partnership could provide more support for economic growth. There is still great untapped potential in the Association Agreements and in the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Areas, he said. And for other countries, which are not looking for preferential tariffs or specific access to the EU, regulatory approximation and the dismantling of non-tariff barriers could be considered, explained Dmitry Yarmoliuk, Deputy Director for European Cooperation at the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Sectoral cooperation could also be strengthened.
Cooperation between administrations and institutions could be strengthened as well. "We are working on a 'job shadowing' concept, a kind of Erasmus for diplomats," Willems said, explaining that officials from Eastern Partnership countries would spend time in the EU or in other Partnership countries. The Ambassador at Large for the Eastern Partnership at Lithuania's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jonas Daniliauskas, called for better integration of partner countries into the European institutions, in the form of participation in the EU Council or the creation of a Secretary for the Partnership, "to better supervise the implementation of the process", or a Regional Cooperation Council.
According to Mr Willems, it is also important to do more cooperation between partners. Radio Free Europe journalist Rikard Jozwiak therefore proposed a free trade area between Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova. The implementation of regional organisations outside the Eastern Partnership, such as the Baltic Council or the Visegrad Group, has also been advanced.
Finally, while Mr Darski called for maintaining the balance between "inclusiveness and differentiation" between the six partner countries, Mr Jozwiak said it was time to end the Eastern Partnership, "victim of its own success". If, according to him, ten years ago, it was perhaps natural to bring the six countries together in a club, it is time to leave this "post-Soviet" club. He called for a distinction to be made between the six countries, with, on the one hand, those for whom the Eastern Partnership has become too narrow a framework: Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine - which benefit from visa liberalisation and an Association Agreement with Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Areas, and the other three, Armenia, Belarus and Azerbaijan, which lag behind. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)