EU OFFERS CLOSER TIES WITH FORMER SOVIET STATES

ng/2009/0320/breaking51.htm
Friday, March 20, 2009, 14:51

EU leaders said in a statement the union should provide total aid worth
â~B¬600 million until 2013 to the six, which also include Azerbaijan,
Armenia, Moldova and Belarus, and seek better cooperation with them
on energy supplies.

Diplomats said the aid under the EU’s Eastern Partnership scheme
for non-member states was approved despite attempts by some southern
European countries to prevent the aid figure being included in the
official summit declaration.

"We have been able to start the Eastern Partnership… That is a great
victory, not just for the countries themselves but for EU itself,"
said Czech foreign minister Karel Schwarzenberg, whose country holds
the EU’s presidency until the end of June..

The summit declaration offered vaguer prospects for easing visa
restrictions for citizens of the six countries than had been proposed
only weeks ago. The global economic crisis has made rich western
European countries wary of migrants and foreign workers and less
eager than before to promise easier travel arrangements.

Under the scheme, the EU is to negotiate new association agreements
– accords setting terms for cooperation with non-member states —
in reward for democratic and free-market reforms.

The plan envisages the gradual creation of a free trade zone with the
count ries. Of the â~B¬600 million aid, some â~B¬350 million will be
new funds for strengthening state institutions, border control and
assistance for small companies.

Although the scheme is modest and offers no prospect of EU membership,
it is likely to upset Russia because Moscow regards these countries
as part of its traditional sphere of influence, EU diplomats say.

Russia has also opposed efforts by Georgia and Ukraine to join Nato. EU
officials said adoption of the plan took on more urgency after Russia
fought a brief war with Georgia last August over South Ossetia.

The plan provides for closer cooperation on energy with the countries
as the EU looks for ways to diversify its energy supplies following
a price row between Russia and Ukraine which temporarily halted gas
supplies to Europe in January.

EU leaders are to hold summits every two years with their counterparts
from the six countries. The first will be in the Czech Republic in
May but it is unclear whether Belarus will be invited because of
questions over its democratic credentials.

France and southern EU members would prefer the EU to focus on
boosting ties with Mediterranean countries. The EU has created a
"Mediterranean Union" for this reason, diplomats say.