Saturday

25th Mar 2023

Opinion

EU's eastern partnership needs revival

  • The European Commission has been asked to prepare a youth package for the EU's Eastern Partnership summit (Photo: Aleksandra Eriksson)

Eight years ago, the EU's Eastern Partnership (EaP) was launched. It was jointly initiated by Poland and Sweden, and meant that the EU deepened its relations with six of its closest neighbours, the home of 75 million people: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.

The EaP has been one of the most successful foreign policy initiatives of the EU. For instance, since 2009, the European Union provided €1.5 billion for the development of companies across the region.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

Last year, more than 4,000 students from the region received scholarships in the EU, and almost 10,000 young people took part in exchange programmes. Citizens of Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine now travel without a visa to Schengen countries.

A majority of people in the region (61 percent) believe that developing stronger relations with the EU is a good thing. More than 70 percent of people in the region view the EU as a bearer of core values such as human rights, democracy and the rule of law, civil liberties and economic prosperity, peace, stability and security.

Summit in Brussels

Despite past successes, the EaP needs a revival to remain relevant in the future.

On 24 November, European leaders will meet for the EaP summit in Brussels. We now want to propose a way ahead for the development of the EaP. It needs to be more focused on the needs of people, in particular young people, and produce more concrete results in the four following areas:

Ownership. We believe that all countries that are engaged in the EaP policies should be mutually responsible for carrying out its goals and priorities. Those who declare higher ambitions should also deliver on the reforms they have committed to.

Georgia is a good example.

Resilience. The policy dialogue between the EU and the Partner countries should focus on things that make our societies stronger. This means strengthening democratic institutions, supporting human rights and fundamental freedoms, fighting corruption, increasing transparency, making bureaucracy more efficient and increasing equality between men and women.

It also means focusing on environmental issues and meeting the challenges posed by climate change.

Public engagement. There is a link between building more resilient societies and the level of trust people have in institutions; one cannot be achieved without the other.

The EaP must make sense to people, and we must make sure that any reforms can be felt by ordinary people.

Young people are particularly important here, and we have asked the European Commission for a youth package to be prepared for the Summit.

Connectivity. We should give priority to all measures that bring people closer together. These could include visa-free travel, exchange programmes, roads, railroads, broadband internet and lower roaming tariffs.

The EU has already decided to extend its connection grids to EaP countries.

This will not only be beneficial for trade, but also for building stronger ties between people in our countries. Since infrastructure is costly, we need to combine grants and loans from European and other international financial institutions.

Stability and resilience

While the EaP does not deal with hard security, it can be instrumental in building stability and resilience. It can also be a platform for cooperation among regional partners.

Next year, both Poland and Sweden will be represented at the UN Security Council as non-permanent members. We want to use this opportunity to promote conflict resolution and crisis management, especially in the EaP region.

Poland and Sweden remain committed to the EaP. And, as Sweden and Poland have always emphasised, the door should be kept open to potential membership for those countries that truly transform.

We take responsibility for this relationship and are convinced that building stronger relations between the EU and its Eastern Partners will lead to better lives for the people in our countries.

Margot Wallstroem and Witold Waszczykowski are Swedens's and Poland's foreign affairs ministers.

Disclaimer

The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author's, not those of EUobserver.

Ukraine should join central Europe trade club

With eight EU alumni, the EU integration expertise of the Balkan states, and an HQ in Brussels, the Cefta club is the perfect incubator for Ukraine's EU aspirations.

Constitutional reform aligns Georgia with Europe

An overhaul of Georgia's 1995 constitution will see a strengthening of the parliament's powers - putting it on a path towards becoming a full member of the European family, says the chairman of the country's parliament.

Agenda

EU agencies and eastern neighbours This WEEK

EU ministers will vote on where to relocate two EU agencies from the UK, while later EU leaders will host six eastern European countries in Brussels. Former Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic awaits his verdict in the Hague.

Editorial

Okay, alright, AI might be useful after all

Large Language Models could give the powers trained data-journalists wield, to regular boring journalists like me — who don't know how to use Python. And that makes me tremendously excited, to be honest.

How much can we trust Russian opinion polls on the war?

The lack of Russian opposition to the Russo-Ukrainian War is puzzling. The war is going nowhere, Russian casualties are staggering, the economy is in trouble, and living standards are declining, and yet polls indicate that most Russians support the war.

Latest News

  1. EU's new critical raw materials act could be a recipe for conflict
  2. Okay, alright, AI might be useful after all
  3. Von der Leyen pledges to help return Ukrainian children
  4. EU leaders agree 1m artillery shells for Ukraine
  5. Polish abortion rights activist vows to appeal case
  6. How German business interests have shaped EU climate agenda
  7. The EU-Turkey migration deal is dead on arrival at this summit
  8. Sweden worried by EU visa-free deal with Venezuela

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic and Baltic ways to prevent gender-based violence
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Economic gender equality now! Nordic ways to close the pension gap
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Pushing back the push-back - Nordic solutions to online gender-based violence
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: The Nordics are ready to push for gender equality
  5. Promote UkraineInvitation to the National Demonstration in solidarity with Ukraine on 25.02.2023
  6. Azerbaijan Embassy9th Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council Ministerial Meeting and 1st Green Energy Advisory Council Ministerial Meeting

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us