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| Eastern Partnership countries, Graphik: Hristofor Hridsoskulov |
Six different neighbouring countries - Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine - one concrete idea for enhancing relationships with those countries - Eastern Partnership. A lot of time has gone by since the Eastern Partnership has been launched. And what happened? The European Union has taken some slow steps in its primal dierection. The idea is not bad: association agreements including deep
and comprehensive free trade agreements with those countries willing and
able to enter into a deeper engagement and gradual integration in the
EU economy; gradual visa liberalisation, accompanied by measures to tackle illegal
immigration; promoting democracy and good governance, strengthening
energy security; promoting sector reform and environment protection,
encouraging people to people contacts, supporting economic and social
development and offering additional funding for projects to reduce
socio-economic imbalances and increasing stability. That is all well and good, of course, but the European Union can hardly put any of this to the test at a time when the six countries are undergoing a very difficult and sometimes really strange orientation process.
