Pokerspiel um die Östliche Partnerschaft - Endspurt für Vilnius

Foto: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania

Nur noch wenige Tage verbleiben bis in der litauischen Hauptstadt Vilnius das dritte Gipfel der Östlichen Partnerschaft stattfindet. Die Erwartungen an die Europäische Union sind groß. Die Schlagzeilen in der Union und in den Partnerländern überschlagen sich mit Vermutungen, Drohungen und sogar Satire über die zukünftigen Beziehungen zwischen der Europäischen Union und den Partnerstaaten an der östlichen Grenze. Moldau, Georgien und die Ukraine gelten als die Favoriten für ein Assoziierungsabkommen mit der EU. Armenien hat bereits ein ähnliches Abkommen mit Russland unterschrieben. Aserbaidschan ist nicht wirklich daran interessiert. Und Belarus denkt nicht daran, denn Lukaschenkos Land gehört schon der Eurasischen Union, angeführt von Russland in der Person von Vladimir Putin. 

The new Hollywood film about the Russia-Georgia conflict of 2008

How will WikiLeaks affect European Diplomacy with Eastern Partner Countries?

WikiLeaks and the "leaked cables"

In his post "How will WikiLeaks affect diplomacy?" Jovan Kurbalija made some interesting conclusions of how will WikiLeaks affect diplomacy as a whole: "Probably the only positive impact WikiLeaks will have is that it will demystify diplomacy. (...) The global diplomatic plane has to be fixed while it is flying. It is very likely that diplomatic services will immediately react by increasing security, becoming more exclusive, and even more secretive. It will, at least temporarily, discourage those who argue for having more engaging and inclusive global diplomacy. The exact opposite, in fact, to what, at least declaratively, WikiLeaks wanted to achieve."

EU's and Eastern Partners' Autumn 2010: Tipping Point in Terms of Rapprochement?

The Autumn 2010 is a season which promises to be eventful for the multilateral relations between the European Union and the Eastern Partnership countries Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaidshan.

However, there are different voices coming from the EU and the partner countries.

• The European Union's offer is dominated by the motto: So do not be annoyed by some more requirements for democracy, better implement the existing provisions of the Eastern Partnership initiatvie.
• The partner countries have the motto: So do not be annoyed by some more mistakes in our democracy, better adopt measures to facilitate greater accessibility of our citizens and goods.

The result could be integrated into the countries' and European Union's ongoing development and show where the two parts can do better.

Integrating Civil Society - The Case Civil Society Forum and Eastern Partnership

Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) play crucial role in the society and respectively in their involvement into the every day policy desiscion-making. They provide political input and are active actors in promoting democracy and market-orientated reforms in the national economy, in promoting the rule of law and the respect for human rights. Involving the CSOs into the desicion-making process on European level remains the top priority of the European Commission for a sustainable success of the Eastern Partnership that covers the post-soviet countries Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, and Aserbaidshan. In doing so the European Commission proposed in its Communication of December 2008

• "to support the further development of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and 
• to establish an EaP Civil Society Forum to promote contacts among CSOs and facilitate their dialogue with public authorities".