Brussels, 04/05/2009 (Agence Europe) - Three days before the Prague summit on 7 May to launch the Eastern Partnership, member states are putting the finishing touches to the draft joint declaration which the leaders of the EU and the six beneficiary countries (Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Moldova and Belarus) will adopt on Thursday. The text, which will be approved by COREPER on Wednesday, will be to a great extent based on the Council conclusions of March 2009 and on the Commission communication of December 2008, sources close to the Czech Presidency said on Monday. In the conclusions of the March European summit, member states underlined the “strategic importance” for the EU of promoting enhanced bilateral relations and a new multilateral framework with the six countries involved in order to accelerate reform and the approximation of laws and the pursuit of economic integration. The Eastern Partnership provides for the conclusion of Association Agreements with those of the six countries which wish it and are in a position to undertake such demanding relations (negotiations with Ukraine are already under way and the Commission is about to finalise a draft negotiating mandate for Moldova: Ed). It is also planned that enhanced overall free trade agreements will be negotiated as soon as the countries become members of the WTO and that there will be visa facilitation with a view to getting rid of visas totally in the long term.
Only a few “linguistic problems” remain to be resolved in the Prague declaration, the Czech Presidency said on Monday. These, in fact, reflect the differing ambitions within the EU with regard to the European future of the neighbouring countries to the east. While those such as Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy and the Benelux countries stress that the Eastern Partnership should in no way be seen as giving these countries prospects of accession and that the Prague declaration should be restricted to the somewhat sober conclusions of the March European Council, the more ambitious “new” member states, such as Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary believe that the EU should go further in the declaration. These latter countries have proposed, for example, describing the six Eastern Partnership countries “European countries” while the former group of member states backs Germany in speaking of eastern neighbouring countries. A possible compromise could be to speak of “eastern partners”, one diplomat suggested on Monday. A further “linguistic” difference relates to visa liberalisation. An initial draft text proposed by the Czech Presidency highlighted the prospect of visa liberalisation for the six countries. Germany and the other countries mentioned above stress, however, that this can only be considered in the long term, as was agreed at the March European Council. One possible form of words could refer to a “gradual” process, said one diplomat.
No Lukashenko nor Voronin. The Czech Presidency invite the heads of state and government of the “27+6” to Prague, but not all countries will be represented at the highest level. President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus and Vladimir Voronin of Moldova declined the invitation. The two countries will be represented by Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Samashko and Foreign Minister Andrei Stratan respectively. Ukraine (Viktor Yushchenko, very probably accompanied by Prime Minister Iulia Timoshenko), Georgia (Mikhail Saakashvili), Armenia (Serge Sargasian) and Azerbaijan (Ilham Aliev) will be represented by their presidents. Member states will almost all be represented at the highest level, the exception being the United Kingdom whose delegation will be led by Foreign Minister David Miliband. On Monday, the Czech Presidency confirmed that there was some doubt overt the attendance of French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Zapatero. The summit will begin on Thursday afternoon with a debate on economic integration, the future of bilateral relations, multilateral cooperation, etc. The second part of the summit will focus on the economic and financial crisis and on the way the EU and financial institutions such as the EIB and the EBRD could help the six countries to meet the crisis. The summit will close with a dinner that evening.
Russia. The Czech Presidency restated on Monday that the Eastern Partnership was not an “anti-Russian” initiative. If, despite these assurances, the Russians were still worried about the project, “then that's their problem, not ours,” stated a diplomat. The European Commission sought to reassure Moscow. “The aim of the Eastern Partnership is not to create a new alliance (with the neighbouring countries of the east against Russia) nor to create new spheres of influence,” a high ranking official said on Monday. The EU's neighbours all had strong hopes of links with the EU and “the EU is only responding to these aspirations”, giving them a framework through which they can gradually move closer to the EU, he said. The Eastern Partnership did not in any way mean that beneficiary countries had to “choose between Brussels and Moscow, because several of these countries enjoy good relations with both the EU and Russia,” the same Commission source said. (H.B./transl.rt)