EU Ministers of Foreign Affairs hold an Eastern Partnership ministerial meeting on 11 December 2023. The meeting was chaired by Josep BORRELL, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and brought together EU foreign ministers and their counterparts from five of the six Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine). Ministers exchanged views on the Eastern Partnership, take stock of its achievements and identify concrete recommendations for the future of the policy.
At this meeting, ministers addressed how the Eastern Partnership can continue to ensure that the needs of member states and partner countries are met, what should be the key priorities of joint work in 2024, how to accelerate the delivery of the Economic and Investment Plan for the Eastern Partnership and how to increase cooperation with regions such as Central Asia and the Western Balkans and synergies with other regional policies such as the Black Sea Synergy.
Ministers aimed to solidify commitment on concrete deliverables for 2024, notably in the area of regional roaming, road safety and transport. Finally, ministers are addressed by the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum.
Since the founding Prague Summit in 2009, the Eastern Partnership has evolved; the substance of the policy has broadened, deepened and been adapted to changing realities.
The Association Agreements and Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Areas (AA/DCFTAs), concluded in 2014, have brought the relations between the EU and Georgia the the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine to a new level. The agreements aim at strengthened political association and economic integration. They entail significant reforms that aim to bring the Partner Countries closer to the EU by aligning their legislation and standards to the EU ones. Most importantly, they have the objective of improving the lives of citizens in a tangible way. A notable example is the Visa liberalisation that entered into force for Georgia and with Ukraine in 2017 – in addition to the Republic of Moldova in 2014.
As a result of the of the EU’s Eastern Partnership program, which stressed ownership and differentiation of the policy, a more tailored approach was taken to relations with Armenia, Azerbaijan and Belarus. A Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between the EU and Armenia entered into force on 1 March, 2021. The EU is also negotiating a new Framework Agreement with Azerbaijan, to better reflect our respective interests and values. ű
Belarus has participated actively in the multilateral formats of the Eastern Partnership. In line with the October 2020 Council Conclusions, the EU will maintain cooperation with Belarus within the Eastern Partnership multilateral framework at non-political level and intensify cooperation with key non-state Belarusian stakeholders.
Over the years, the Eastern Partnership (EaP) has been instrumental in bringing the EU and the partner countries closer together. The EaP Summit in November 2017 marked a new approach with the adoption of a common reform agenda. This ambitious work plan focused on delivering tangible results on the ground and improving the lives of people in four main policy areas: (1) stronger economy; (2) stronger governance; (3) stronger connectivity and (4) stronger society, together with targets for the cross-cutting issues of gender, civil society and strategic communication.
Discussions in EaP multilateral Platforms and Panels, where all six partners and EU Member states participate, help exchange best practices across these areas and develop regional cooperation.
As part of the agenda, a selection of top ten targets for 2025 have been identified as future priority actions:
- Investing in competitive and innovative economies – 500,000 SMEs supported
- Investing in the rule of law – All high level officials declare their economic assets and these declarations are verified
- Investing in sustainable and smart connectivity – 3,000 km of priority roads and railways built or upgraded
- Investing in people and knowledge societies – 70,000 individual mobility opportunities for students and staff, researchers, young people and youth workers
- Investing in security and cyber resilience – A strengthened framework in place for identifying and addressing hybrid threats; strengthened partners’ capacities to increase cyber resilience and tackle cyber crime
- Investing in sustainable energy – 250,000 households reduce energy consumption by at least 20%
- Investing in environment & climate – Another 3 million people gain access to safe water services; air quality monitored and improved in 300 cities
- Investing in health resilience – 850,000 health workers vaccinated and benefit from improved therapeutics, equipment and working conditions
- Investing in inclusive, gender equal and diverse societies, and strategic communication – 2,500 local civil society organisations, 120 independent media outlets and 2,000 journalists supported
- Investing in digital transformation – 80% of households have affordable access to high speed internet.
