THE FINANCIAL TIMES: RUSSIA, LIKE A SIBERIAN GUARD DOG, SEES THE EASTERN PARTNERSHIP AS AN ATTEMPT BY SOME 27-HEADED TERRIER TO ENCROACH ON ITS PATCH

ArmInfo
2009-05-05 14:00:00

One of the European Union’s great strengths is its ability, as a
prosperous, democratic community of like-minded states, to export
political and economic stability to its neighbours. This strength
will be put to the test on Thursday when the EU launches its "Eastern
Partnership", an initiative to forge closer ties with six ex-Soviet
states between the bloc’s eastern border and Russia, The Financial
Times reported.

‘The Eastern Partnership, conceived by Poland and Sweden in 2007,
covers Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. It
is an improvement on the EU’s redundant "European Neighbourhood
Policy", a 2004 project that absurdly grouped eastern European
neighbours with places such as Libya, Syria and the Palestinian
Authority.

Nonetheless, the Eastern Partnership is a vessel rocking from side
to side even before it starts its voyage. It appears unlikely that
Alexander Lukashenko and Vladimir Voronin, presidents of Belarus
and Moldova respectively, will bother to show up in Prague for the
launch. Nor, it seems, will this week’s summit be graced with the
presence of all 27 EU national leaders.

Russia, the ghost at the feast, poses another problem. All six
ex-Soviet states were under the Kremlin’s thumb for most of the 20th
century. No sooner had the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 than foreign
policy theorists in Moscow dubbed the area Russia’s "near abroad".

In the age of Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s prime
minister and president, the preferred concept is that of a "privileged
sphere of influence". In other words, Russia, like a Siberian guard
dog, sees the Eastern Partnership as an attempt by some 27-headed
terrier to encroach on its patch.

A third issue concerns what is on offer for the six eastern states. On
the face of things, it is not money. Under current proposals, the
programme will raise EU assistance to the region to a meagre ?600m
($796m, ?534m) from a previously agreed ?250m in 2010-13.

However, this criticism is misplaced. Through the International
Monetary Fund, the EU is helping to arrange emergency loans for
countries such as Armenia, Belarus and Ukraine to survive the global
financial crisis and recession. From the recipients’ point of view,
of course, this may reinforce the perception that the IMF, not the
Eastern Partnership, is where the action is.

Far more damaging to the EU’s image in the six states are the bloc’s
travel policies – what Tomas Valasek, an analyst at the London-based
Centre for European Reform think-tank, calls "the expensive and
gratuitously complicated visa application process". When the European
Commission suggested in December that EU governments should aim to
remove all visa requirements, protests came from Germany and other
western European countries.

As a result, EU leaders dropped the idea in March, replacing it
with an almost meaningless offer of simplified visa procedures,
on a case-by-case basis and as a long-term goal.

The Germans and others take the view that it is inconceivable to extend
visa-free travel to countries such as Ukraine or Moldova as long as
they are significant sources of prostitution, drug traffickers and
illegal workers and migrants. This attitude offends Belarus, which
believes it has a good record on suppressing illegal migration.

One alleged weakness of this partnership is that it makes no promises
– even vague promises – that the six states will one day be welcome
to join the EU. It is a tempting argument, but there is a risk of
over-simplification.

For example, Ukraine sees its future clearly in the EU, but the
governments of Azerbaijan or Belarus do not. Each of the six states
presents distinctive challenges. The best course for the EU is to draw
them all as close as possible by means of free trade and visa-free
travel, and – in the sole case of Ukraine – to make an explicit
promise of eventual EU membership’, the author of the article writes.

2009-05-05 13:55:00 Transport Minister of Armenia: In case border
closing, Georgia has contractual commitments to Armenia

ArmInfo. Georgia has contractual commitments to Armenia on transit
assurance and cargo integrity, and I think it will fulfill them,
Transport and Communication Minister of Armenia Gourgen Sarkisyan said
at a press-conference on Tuesday when commenting on the question of
the Armenian journalist on possibility of opening the borders on May
8 in view of the opposition’s requirement on resignation of President
of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili.

According to the minister, the relations between Armenia and
Georgia are built on a contractual basis. Any contract stipulates a
responsibility for its non-fulfillment, the minister said.

G. Sarkisyan welcomed the statements by Russia about opening of the
Russian-Georgian checkpoint "Upper Lars". He said the cargo flow
from Armenia to Georgia by this route will be resumed although in
less volumes.