Deutsche Presse-Agentur
March 2, 2005, Wednesday

E.U. vows closer links with eastern, southern neighbours

Brussels

The European Commission on Wednesday announced new moves to reinforce
relations with five states on its eastern and southern borders. The
Commission, executive arm of the 25-nation European Union, said the
bloc’s so-called “neighbourhood policy” should be extended to Egypt,
Lebanon, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. A final decision on whether
or not the five countries will be included in the neighbourhood plan
will be taken by E.U. governments. The Commission will then draw up
detailed “action plans” for the neighbouring states with a view to
encouraging reform and change in the five countries. Countries which
are already part of the initiative include Israel, Jordan, Moldova,
Morocco, the Palestinian Authority, Tunisia and Ukraine.
Participation in the neighbourhood plan allows countries to forge
closer political and economic relations with the E.U. However, it
does not provide for membership of the bloc. The neighbourhood policy
is designed to “prevent the emergence of new dividing lines in
Europe,” the Commission said. The blueprint is, however, inspired by
the E.U.’s successful efforts to encourage reform in the eight former
communist nations of central and eastern Europe which are now members
of the E.U. Officials said the focus in coming months would be
encourage political reform in the five neighbouring states through
efforts to strengthen democracy, good governance and a dialogue on
human rights Economic reform efforts would include actions to promote
a good business and investment climate. Other measures include trade,
market and regulatory reforms with the aim of allowing neighbours to
participate in the E.U.’s frontier- free single market and
cooperation in the field of justice, including legal reform and
immigration issues. Countries participating in the initiative are
also eligible for increased aid for the development of infrastructure
networks (energy, transport and telecommunications, information
society) and cooperation on environmental issues. Contacts between
people are also encouraged. The Commission said the timing of the
action plan drawn up for Lebanon would depend on the evolution of the
political situation in the country following the murder last month of
former premier Rafik Hariri. dpa si sc