EU OPENS LANDMARK SUMMIT WITH EX-SOVIET STATES

Agence France Presse
May 7 2009

PRAGUE (AFP) — European Union leaders opened landmark talks Thursday
with six former Soviet states, aiming to foster stability and closer
ties while reassuring Russia that this was not an EU power play.

The Eastern Partnership initiative "should not be a renewal of two
blocs East and West, it should not be a fight for influence," said
outgoing Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, whose country holds
the rotating EU presidency.

The main goal of the partnership was to "accelerate political
association and further economic integration" between the 27 EU
nations and Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine,
said the participants in an agreed summit statement.

That was not expected to assuage Russian opposition to the project,
which Moscow sees as an attempt to downgrade its own influence in
its backyard.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday warned against
the creation of "new dividing lines" in Europe.

However EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner
described it as a win-win situation.

"This is our common neighbourhood and I think we (EU and Russia)
should be both very happy to have more stability," there said as she
entered the talks.

Ukraine’s President Viktor Yushchenko, also arriving for the talks,
called the Eastern Partnership "a first roadmap" for relations
with Europe.

"There is a financial support from the EU and an understanding that
there should be more cooperation with its neighbours," he said.

Brussels says the new scheme is designed to foster stability in the
region, thanks in part to EU aid, and is not handing out the carrot
of eventual EU partnership.

Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen stressed that eventual EU
membership was not part of the plan.

"This partnership does not open the door to membership at all… that
is very important," he said.

War and political strife in Georgia, riots in Moldova and political and
economic upheaval in Ukraine underscore the need for action, but some
of the wind has been taken out of the sails of the Eastern Partnership.

The project was the initiative of the Czech Republic, which holds
the rotating EU presidency till the end of next month.

But the Czech government has fallen and will be replaced on Friday.

Prague was also unable to convince key EU leaders to attend. British
Prime Minister Gordon Brown, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Spanish
Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and Italian counterpart
Silvio Berlusconi were among the no-shows.

Overall the meeting was turned into something of a semi-summit,
with just over half of the 27 EU nations represented by their heads
of state or government.

A senior European Commission official said the absences increase
the danger of "policy for the East made by countries from the East
(of the EU), and a policy for the Mediterranean made by Mediterranean
countries".

The summit statement displays some of the tensions over the eastward
rapprochement. Subtle but key text changes in the final version
reflecting the wishes of western Europe — France, Germany and the
Benelux countries in particular — not to go too far with the project.

The six partner nations are clearly referred to as "Eastern European
Partners" whereas the Czechs wanted to drop the "Eastern" tag.

The reference "long-term goal" was also added to a paragraph on visa
liberalisation.

During France’s term at the EU helm last year, Sarkozy launched a
"Mediterranean Union" to bolster ties with countries around the sea’s
rim, but that forum has since stalled.

A brief Russia-Georgia war last August also highlighted the need to
look further east, not least because some of the partner countries
are key transit nations for Europe’s energy needs.

The EU is also keen to reach out to Belarus after recent progress made
on improving democracy under President Alexander Lukashenko, although
the man dubbed the "last dictator in Europe" was not attending.