EU GIVES GREEN LIGHT TO EASTERN PARTNERSHIP
PanARMENIAN.Net
09.12.2008 16:56 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ European Union leaders backed plans on Friday to
offer closer ties to the bloc’s eastern neighbors.
The Eastern Partnership plan is to offer new areas of cooperation
to Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and, subject to
domestic reforms, Belarus. But the plan is vague, with details only
to be worked out by March, 2009.
"The European Council (EU governments) agrees on the need to further
promote regional cooperation among the EU’s eastern neighbors and
between the EU and the region," said the leaders’ draft statement,
due to be endorsed at the summit.
Poland and Sweden, authors of the project, hope it will become a
forum of multilateral cooperation with regular meetings of ministers
and leaders. They said it could prepare the countries for eventual
EU membership.
The EU’s eastern neighbors are already linked to Brussels through the
strictly bilateral European Neighborhood Policy, which offers countries
better trade access, economic assistance and visa liberalization as
they adapt to EU standards, Reuters reports.