The countries of the eastern Partnership (EaP) are important for the European Union and this thing will be demonstrated at the Riga Summit, the European Parliament’s Rapporteur for the Revision of the EU Neighborhood Policy Eduard Kukan said in an interview for Radio Free Europe, quoted by IPN.
The official stated that the EU hastened the modification of the neighborhood policy following the events in Ukraine, which started with the annexation of Crimea. Asked if the EU is responsible for the created situation, he said the EU has bears a part of the blame. “Our neighborhood policy should be much more realistic, much more down to earth. We should see the earth as it is, not as we want to see it. It should be realistically ambitious,” stated Eduard Kukan.
The European rapporteur underlined that the EU wants to have good cooperation relations with its Eastern partners and one of the most important words in the new report will be differentiation. “This means that the countries from our eastern neighborhood are different and want to become involved in the relationship with the EU in a different way. Some of them see themselves members of the EU in the future. Others are interested only in the economic cooperation. The EU will prepare instruments for each case apart. We should make effort to reach sector agreements with these countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Belarus). This will be the most important difference from the current neighborhood policy,” he stated.
Eduard Kukan also said the EU learned that things develop very swiftly and it must be more flexible so as to react correctly, on time, appropriately. “Greater differentiation, greater flexibility and greater visibility of the EU are needed as they say that in such countries as Moldova, for example, we should tell the people that the EU brings benefits. It’s necessary to show the ordinary people that cooperation with the European Union is good for them, is beneficial for them. The visa-free regime for Moldovans was very well received by the people because they can travel without visas,” stated the official.
At the Riga Summit of May 21-22, an agenda will be set to assess the developments after the Vilnius Summit of November 2013. According to Eduard Kukan, what is difficult for the EU is to take the most balanced decision, but it is important to discuss now a possible European integration in the future. A clear distinction should also be made between the partnership and enlargement policies, which are not one and the same.
Eduard Kukan believes it is premature for Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia to become members of the EU because they must fulfill all the criteria laid down in the European treaties. The EU learned from the mistakes of the past, when it accepted countries according to political criteria. The admission of Romania and Bulgaria into the EU was a big mistake and the EU does not want to repeat it.
