The Council of the EU should call, in its conclusions on ‘Eastern Partnership Policy beyond 2020’, for the partnership with Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine to grow in importance in the coming years. An EU/Eastern Partnership Summit is scheduled for mid-June.
“The EU Council calls for the Eastern Partnership to be more strategic, ambitious effective and flexible, aligned with the new policy approach and in particular underlines the importance of mainstreaming the abovementioned cross-cutting elements”, says a draft conclusions dated 28 April obtained by EUROPE and currently being discussed by the ambassadors.
Member States would like the partnership to place even greater emphasis on “tangible and visible” projects with a real impact on people’s lives and on support for youth.
Welcoming the Commission’s Communication (see EUROPE 12449/23), the EU Council considers that strengthening resilience as an “overriding policy framework” will be one of the key goals for the Eastern Partnership during the next years. It highlights resilience in the areas of democracy, society, economy, energy, security, cyber, media, environment, health and human security.
The EU Council also promotes a “renewed and strengthened commitment” to the foundations of the partnership and therefore invites the European External Action Service and the Commission, “in close coordination with the Member States, to better monitor reforms aimed at strengthening the Rule of law and to enhance its support” for these foundations.
While, according to the draft conclusions, the partnership offers “close political association and economic integration with the EU”, the wording concerning the “European aspirations” and the “European choice” of the partner countries is a subject of debate. One proposal is for a clear expression, while another favours a reference to the 2017 summit declaration, which mentions these European aspirations and choices. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)