The big stake of the Vilnius Eastern Partnership Summit is the signing of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union. As regards the other states, it is expected that Moldova and Georgia will initial the Association Agreement, while Armenia, Belarus and Azerbaijan will sign no strategic document at this meeting, Leonid Litra, senior researcher at the Kiev Institute of World Policy, has told IPN.
“Unfortunately, it’s not yet definitely known whether Ukraine signs this agreement or not given that not all the conditions imposed by the EU, which were initially accepted by Kiev, were fulfilled. The remaining conditions refer to the modification of the legislation so as to reform the prosecution service and to create a normative framework to enable jailed persons to receive treatment abroad,” said the researcher, adding that the last amendment applies to former Ukrainian Premier Iulia Timoshenko.
Now Ukraine’s chances to sign the Association Agreement are slim, after the Ukrainian Government suspended the process. “The non-signing by Ukraine of the agreement will transform the Vilnius Summit into a failure. If Ukraine until 2015 gives up signing the accord, a process of rethinking the Eastern Partnership will be started,” said Leonid Litra.
As regards Moldova, Leonid Litra said it is important for the country to sign the Association Agreement with the EU as soon as possible after the initialing, not later than September – October 2014, so that the current Parliament can ratify it.
“The signing process won’t be easy and I think that Russia will make effort to hamper the signing. Russia’s threats have been already uttered by Rogozin (Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitri Rogozin), who predicted difficulties in the relationship with Russia and the loss of the Transnistrian region if Chisinau signs the accord,” said the researcher.
He added that without the constant and swift support of the EU, it will be very hard for Moldova to maintain the European course. Besides the support of Brussels, an absolutely necessary condition is to avoid any political crisis that can endanger the political stability in Moldova.
The Eastern Partnership Summit will take place in Vilnius on November 28-29. The leaders of the Pro-European Coalition will take part in this event. Lithuania now holds the EU presidency.
