EU puts forward accords designed to make neighboring region a safer place

AP Worldstream
Dec 09, 2004

ROBERT WIELAARD

Eight months after absorbing 10 new members, the European Union on
Thursday endorsed tailor-made accords with seven neighbors that offer
far-reaching trade and cooperation benefits but _ crucially _ no
prospect of membership.

The “European Neighborhood” accords with Moldova, Ukraine, Morocco,
Tunisia, Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Authority are aimed at
making Europe more secure by bringing stability and prosperity to
volatile regions.

The Ukraine accord is to be implemented once it is clear a
presidential election to be rerun Dec. 26 are free and fair, putting
an end to the country’s political crisis, said EU External Affairs
Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner.

She said she planned to visit Kiev after the vote to see “how we can
work together” to put Ukraine’s neighborhood accord into effect.

The EU plans to have “neighborhood” accords next year with Egypt,
Lebanon, Armenia, Azerbaij and Georgia.

Ferrero-Waldner told reporters the agreements will create “a ring of
friends around the borders of our enlarged EU” that took in Cyprus,
Malta and eight ex-communist East European nations on May 1.

She said the neighbors will qualify for easy access to the EU’s 450
million consumers, “the biggest single market in the world,” if they
bring their laws in line with EU rules and regulations.

In turn, the neighbors will get closer cooperation, more financial aid
and a chance to participate in EU education, research, environment,
energy, information and other programs.

The accords also contain a section in which the EU’s neighbors agree
to combat terrorism, illegal immigration, organized crime and commit
to the nonproliferation of weapons and mass destruction, good
governance, the rule of law and human rights.

“Each agreement has been tailor-made to match the needs and the
interests of the country concerned,” Ferrero-Waldner said.

“The further a partner is ready to go in taking steps to implement
common values, the further the EU will be ready to go in strengthening
our ties with them.”

The seven accords the EU cover the next three to five years and
exclude future membership.

Getting the seven deals has not been easy.

Ukraine has gone into a political crisis. The “neighborhood” accord
with Kiev puts the EU on a collision course with Russia which is ever
wary of Western European meddling in a region that Moscow considers
its sphere of influence.

The negotiations with Israel have been difficult. Israel can look
forward to better access to the EU market for its exports, but it had
to formally acknowledge that the EU has role to play in Mideast
peacemaking, together with the United States, the United Nations and
Russia.

The EU-Israel neighborhood agreement also means that “Israel clearly
acknowledges the role of the EU in the Quartet” that has written the
“road map” to a peace plan that is to lead to a Palestinian
state. Initially, the Israelis balked at references to the role of the
so-called Quartet of Mideast peacemakers.

Through the neighborhood agreement, Israel also acknowledges “the need
to take into account the viability of a future Palestinian state in
counter-terrorist activities,” said Ferrero-Waldner.

“Israel has never been willing to make such commitments in writing to
any other partner. The same applies to the commitments Israel has
entered into concerning” the nonproliferation of weapons of mass
destruction, she added.

She added Morocco, Tunisia, the Palestinian Authority and Jordan have
committed themselves to “far-reaching” economic and political reforms

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