Lithuania will host the European Union’s third Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius on November 28th and 29th. Leaders from the 28 EU member states will be in attendance along with representatives from Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. The EU launched the Eastern Partnership as a primary vehicle for engagement with eastern countries specifically the six post-Soviet states. Among the goals of the partnership are association agreements which provide a roadmap to bring these countries closer to the EU as well as to provide a comprehensive trade arrangement.
The expectation next week is that Moldova and Georgia will sign onto Association Agreements and the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreements. Ukraine was expected to also have an association agreement but recently has postponed preparations for signing such an agreement. These agreements are important to drive economic modernization and to open up trading possibilities with the EU through integration. Russia is unhappy with the prospect of these countries becoming closer with Europe and has indicated plans to take reactive measures. The partnership has been taken extremely seriously in Moscow but it is not expected that Russia will send a representative to Vilnius. The summit will also put forth a set of goals for the partnership to reach by 2015.
This summit is especially important because the Eastern partnership has developed into something very real that is being taken more seriously which explains Russia’s dislike for the partnership. President Van Rompuy of the European council said in a recent press release, “Our objective is to work together with our partners in the region to build - step by step - a democratic, prosperous and stable neighborhood based on the rule of law. Vilnius will mark the end of the first decade of the Union's neighborhood policy and the first four years since the launch of the Eastern Partnership in Prague in 2009. We continue to work on the ambitious Association Agreements including Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Areas with partners meeting the benchmarks and steps towards facilitating and liberalizing travelling between the Union and the region.”
The European community as well as much of the world is waiting to see what decisions will be made in Vilnius at the end of the week and how these Eastern countries will proceed in their partnership.
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EU Eastern Partnership Summit
November 22, 2013
Lithuania will host the European Union’s third Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius on November 28th and 29th. Leaders from the 28 EU member states will be in attendance along with representatives from Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. The EU launched the Eastern Partnership as a primary vehicle for engagement with eastern countries specifically the six post-Soviet states. Among the goals of the partnership are association agreements which provide a roadmap to bring these countries closer to the EU as well as to provide a comprehensive trade arrangement.
The expectation next week is that Moldova and Georgia will sign onto Association Agreements and the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreements. Ukraine was expected to also have an association agreement but recently has postponed preparations for signing such an agreement. These agreements are important to drive economic modernization and to open up trading possibilities with the EU through integration. Russia is unhappy with the prospect of these countries becoming closer with Europe and has indicated plans to take reactive measures. The partnership has been taken extremely seriously in Moscow but it is not expected that Russia will send a representative to Vilnius. The summit will also put forth a set of goals for the partnership to reach by 2015.
This summit is especially important because the Eastern partnership has developed into something very real that is being taken more seriously which explains Russia’s dislike for the partnership. President Van Rompuy of the European council said in a recent press release, “Our objective is to work together with our partners in the region to build - step by step - a democratic, prosperous and stable neighborhood based on the rule of law. Vilnius will mark the end of the first decade of the Union's neighborhood policy and the first four years since the launch of the Eastern Partnership in Prague in 2009. We continue to work on the ambitious Association Agreements including Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Areas with partners meeting the benchmarks and steps towards facilitating and liberalizing travelling between the Union and the region.”
The European community as well as much of the world is waiting to see what decisions will be made in Vilnius at the end of the week and how these Eastern countries will proceed in their partnership.
