The heads of state or government of the EU Member States and their Eastern Partner counterparts will meet on Wednesday 15 December in Brussels for the 6th Eastern Partnership Summit, 4 years after the previous one.
The EU has association agreements and full and deep free trade areas with three of the partners - Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, countries which make no secret of their ambition to join the EU one day. It also has a comprehensive and enhanced partnership agreement with Armenia and is negotiating with Azerbaijan on a new comprehensive agreement. For its part, Belarus has decided to suspend its participation in the Eastern Partnership and will not attend the summit.
On Monday 13 December, an EU source explained that the aim was to revitalise the Eastern Partnership in order to bring it to a new level of engagement to maximise the deepening of economic and political relations that the partnership allows. “This summit is important to show that the EU continues to be engaged in the region, to be involved. Another actor [Russia, ed.] advancing its pawns will not make us give up”, added a European diplomatic source. She said the face-to-face summit should show the countries of the region that the EU remains fully involved and continues to accompany them on the road to reform.
In concrete terms, the summit has four objectives: - confirming continued commitment, mutual support and solidarity, including in the context of Covid-19; - focus on promoting reforms, respect for human rights and fundamental values; - confirm the ongoing efforts to contribute to peace and security; - and finally, differentiation between partners (see EUROPE 12850/23).
The participants should also adopt priorities for the post-2020 Partnership (see EUROPE B12841A17). These will cover five long-term objectives, with a focus on recovery, resilience and reform, based on two pillars: governance and investment. The priorities are: building resilient, sustainable and integrated economies, having accountable institutions, rule of law and security, building environmental and climate resilience, achieving a resilient digital transformation and creating resilient, gender-equal, just and inclusive societies.
These priorities are accompanied by a €2.3 billion regional investment plan, which could mobilise up to €17 billion of public and private investment. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant with Agathe Cherki)