Brussels, 20/06/2008 (Agence Europe) - The European Council welcomes the proposals aimed at developing the eastern dimension of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), the aim of which will be to strengthen EU policy towards eastern ENP partners in bilateral and multilateral formats. The European Council “agreed on the need to further promote regional cooperation among the EU's eastern neighbours and between the EU and the region, as well as bilateral cooperation between the EU and each of these countries respectively, on the basis of differentiation and an individual approach, respecting the character of the ENP as a single and coherent policy framework”. The Eastern Partnership should also be linked to two other cooperation frameworks: the Black Sea Synergy and the Northern Dimension. The European Council invites the Commission to take the work forward and to present to the Council in spring 2009 a proposal for modalities of the Eastern Partnership.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk welcomed the mandate given to the European Commission, which gives substance to an initiative taken by Poland with the support of Sweden as a counterpart to the proposal for the Union for the Mediterranean. He pointed out to the press that this partnership must provide a new framework for political cooperation with the eastern neighbourhood countries, including Belarus. (O.J./transl.jl)