The Eastern Partnership was inaugurated during the summit in Prague on Thursday. The main goal of the partnership, which is the brainchild of Poland and Sweden, is to ‘accelerate political association and economic integration ‘between the EU and Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. The eastern partnership should not be a renewal of two blocks of east and west said outgoing Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency ‘This is in the interest of the EU that its closest neighbours are politically and economically stable states. They should abide by the rule of law and respect human rights. This will ensure the security of the EU eastern border ‘, said the Czech Premier.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, called the Prague summit a day of Polish success. Radoslaw Sikorski pointed that the Eastern Partnership is the first Polish initiative taken up by the whole EU.
The Eastern Partnership does not guarantee open doors for EU membership. Several of the west European states also demanded that the six partner states are not described as European, so that there is no suggestion of any possible integration. Key leaders of the EU did not attend the Prague summit, among the absentees were Prime Ministers of Great Britain, Italy, Spain as well as French head of state.
The EU assigned 600 million euro for the eastern Partnership.
(ab)