EU and NATO keep Eastern countries at bay[fr][de] 

The European Commission's Eastern Partnership proposal was in fact largely outshone by the parallel NATO ministerial meeting, which was followed much more closely by the media in Georgia and Ukraine as well as in Western countries. 

According to diplomatic sources, the US had conducted a diplomatic offensive among NATO capitals in Europe, urging its allies to offer Georgia and Ukraine a shortcut to membership of the alliance. 

Russia claims victory 

Although the attempt was not entirely successful, NATO ministers decided to boost the existing NATO-Ukraine and NATO-Georgia Commissions, a step which in those countries was welcomed as a "de facto" action plan to join the alliance. 

For its part, Russia could also claim victory. Dmitry Rogozyn, the country's ambassador to NATO, stated yesterday: "There is an open split within NATO and it will widen if NATO tries to expand further". 

On Tuesday night, NATO ministers decided to resume dialogue in established EU-Russia formats, which were discontinued following the Georgia crisis. Just hours beforehand, the EU had decided to resume talks between the Union and Moscow on a new basic treaty, despite Lithuania's decision to maintain its objections (EurActiv 11/11/08). 

What's behind a name? 

Grigol Mgaloblishvili, Georgia's Prime Minister, said in Brussels on Monday that some people in his country had even called their children 'MAP', after the much sought-after NATO Membership Action Plan status. MAP status was denied to Ukraine and Georgia at the last NATO summit in Bucharest (EurActiv 02/04/08) after opposition from European heavyweights such as Germany, France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium. 

A high-ranking European diplomat present at the event noted that, strangely enough, no parents in Georgia were apparently considering calling their newborns 'ENP' , after the European neighbourhood policy. But it was precisely the deficiencies of ENP which prompted the EU to push for an Eastern Partnership, which the Commission produced yesterday at the instruction of the June EU summit. 

The 15-page document , accompanied by another 12 pages  of potential subjects for work and possible initiatives, offers closer ties with Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Belarus, Armenia and Azerbaijan. 

"The time has come to make a step change in relations with these partners, without prejudice to individual counties' aspirations for their future relationship with the EU," the document reads. 

Significantly, the initiative is called Eastern Partnership or EaP, and not East European Partnership, as the countries of the region would have preferred (EurActiv 07/11/08). This is because the Commission tried to distance it from the European Association Agreements (EAAs) with Central and East European countries, which contained the perspective of EU membership. 

Advantages of EaP 

Although it may have disappointed its targets regarding to its main message, the EaP contains several new dimensions compared to ENP. 

Dr. Sabine Fisher of the Paris-based Institute for Security Studies told EurActiv that EaP goes beyond ENP in several respects: 

• It presents itself explicitly as a political message of EU solidarity, unlike the previous, largely technical ENP documents; 
• it suggests that the Partnership and Cooperation Agreements be replaced by Association Agreements (following the Ukrainian model); 
• it suggests the establishment of a new instrument, the 'Comprehensive Institution-Building Programme' (CIB), on a bilateral track; 
• it provides detailed procedures for the establishment of wide-ranging free trade areas and visa facilitation regimes with the ENP neighbours; the former is linked to the regional dimension through a proposed Neighbourhood Economic Community; 
• it also provides clear and detailed suggestions as to how to deepen the energy cooperation with the Eastern ENP countries; 
• the regional/multilateral track is considerably more political than in existing ENP documents (suggesting regular meetings from senior working level up to heads of state and government and linking them to specific, very political thematic issues) 
• lastly, and possibly most importantly, it calls for fresh funding to be allocated to new initiatives. 350 million euro in new aid will go towards strengthening state institutions, border control and assistance for small companies, in addition to funds committed previously. 

Belarus, which is ruled by a man many call "Europe's last dictator," President Alexander Lukashenko, must initiate democratic reforms before it can qualify for the EU aid plan. In October, the Union temporarily lifeted a travel ban on Lukashenko following the release of political prisoners. 

That decision will be reviewed in March next year and, if confirmed, the Belarus president will be among the leaders of the six countries for a EU-Eastern Partners summit in Prague, to be held in the first half of 2009 under the Czech EU Presidency. 

Presenting the initiative, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso said the European executive felt an urgency to act after the Georgia crisis. But he added that the proposed partnership was "not about drawing a new division of Europe." Rather, he said, the EU wants to support reforms that the ex-Soviet republics are willing and ready to make. "The Cold War is over," said Barroso, "and where there is no Cold War, there should be no spheres of interest".

The Ukranian Foreign Affairs Ministry issued an official statement welcoming the Commission's proposal of a new partnership but said it would need adequate financing and would have to bring the Ukraine closer to EU membership.

"The Eastern Partnership demands adequate financing which would provide for dynamic implementation of priorities of the new policy even within the current EU financial perspective. Ukraine is ready to support and use in a pragmatic way every element of the Eastern Partership if the new EU policy is not interpreted as an alternative to potential EU membership but on the contrary brings Ukraine closer to this goal." 

MEP Jacek Saryusz-Wolski (EPP-ED, Poland), chairman of the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee, said the Eastern Partnership would strengthen the Union. 

"I welcome the latest communication from the Commission on the Eastern Partnership. The idea of deepening relations with our Eastern neighbours has been championed by the European Parliament for quite some time. The recent crisis in the South Caucasus has once again brought to evidence the need for a strong EU presence in its Eastern neighbourhood. For the sake of stability on our doorstep we have decided to move beyond declarations, improve on our up-to-date performance and offer tangible benefits to our closest neighbours," said Saryusz-Wolski. 

MEP Annemie Netys-Uytebroeck, (ALDE, Belgium), said the new initiative would give the European Neighbourhood Policy "real meaning and content for the countries concerned". 

"European Liberal Democrats have long championed increased people-to-people contact, free trade and deeper links with our Eastern neighbours. We will certainly maintain our political pressure on the Council and Commission to achieve these goals. However, many of these goals will take years to achieve and member states have been too slow to act so far. It is clear that one of the key policy areas for the next European Commission will be to move ahead and engage with the EU's eastern neighbours," Netys-Uytebroeck stated. 

The  leader of the civil campaign 'European Belarus' Andrei Sannikov  made a statement emphasising that the EU initiative supported the people of Belarus and not of its current leadership. 

"The fact that the European Union has expressed its readiness to pay more careful attention to the Eastern European region, to which Belarus belongs, should be viewed favourably […] The key problem of Belarus is known to everyone. It is not the economy, but the repressive political system based on the personal power of Lukashenko. Only democratisation is able to draw Belarus nearer to Europe, and it should be emphasised in any practical steps for realization of the Eastern Partnership programme," he stated, before continuing:

"Today, Lukashenko and his representatives state directly that Belarus does not make it aim to integrate into the EU. Thus they underline that they would like to maintain the existing regime, and to receive help from the EU on their own conditions. It is the only thing the regime needs today in the context of the global financial crisis," stated Sannikov.