About: Eastern Partnership Archives

Experts have warned that Visegrad countries, haunted by a wave of Euroscepticism and populism, can no longer aspire to be role models and “export” their experience with democratic transition to the Eastern Partnership countries. EURACTIV Slovakia reports.

Armenia’s government has been urged to start “internal preparations” for visa liberalisation, the process for which could be started at a summit in November.

To say the EU’s ability to promote values through external action is declining may be an understatement. This time the observation is made in a report aimed at improving and making more coherent Union diplomacy and the way the bloc's taxpayer money is spent.

Yerzhan Ashikbayev, Kazakhstan's deputy foreign minister, spoke to EURACTIV.com about nuclear disarmament, relations with the big powers and his country’s example when it comes to multiculturalism.

Estonian Ambassador to Poland Harri Tiido explained the priorities of his country’s EU Presidency and talked about the current challenges facing Europe, in an interview with EURACTIV.pl.

To the untrained eye, Georgia’s European future looks secure. Yet, zoom in closer and Georgia is quickly turning into another oligarchic regime in the region, where political competition and free speech are on the wane. Salome Samadashvili calls on Brussels to act.

EU foreign ministers decided today (14 November) to start negotiating a comprehensive agreement with Azerbaijan, replacing the Association agreement proposed in 2010, which had omitted to take into account Baku’s view about the future of relations.

The foreign ministers of the 28 EU countries have redefined yesterday (17 October) the Union foreign policy priorities for 2016 and the basis of its relations with Russia and the countries of the Eastern neighbourhood.

Georgia has made big changes to meet its commitments to the EU. We must recognise this and not let them down on the question of visa-free travel, writes Heidi Hautala.

The European Court of Auditors published a very critical assessment  today (1 September) of the way the Commission spends EU money in Moldova, a country associated with the EU and with an ambition to join the Union in the longer term.

The European budget is vital for research, SMEs, job creation and tackling the EU’s external challenges. The European Parliament must fight to ensure this budget is up to the task, writes Siegfried Muresan.

The Brexit vote has fuelled discussions in Georgia about the country’s hopes of joining the EU. Tbilisi has consistently assured the bloc that the country’s European choice is irreversible. But Georgia’s European bid still faces serious exams, writes Zaal Anjaparidze.

Azerbaijan yesterday (25 May) released jailed investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova, who was convicted of corruption charges last year, prompting reactions welcoming the country’s move toward press freedom and rule of law.

The Russian ‘Valdai Club’ and the European Policy Centre, a Brussels think tank, failed to agree yesterday (17 May) on ways to move forward EU-Russia relations - instead comparing the ‘new normal’ of the relationship with the grey skies that Brussels residents have no other choice but to accept.

The centre-right European Peoples’ Party (EPP), the largest group in the European Parliament, has taken a strong position against Nord Stream 2, a Gazprom-favoured project to bring additional Russian gas from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea.

Brussels should continue to focus on Eastern Partnership countries which help deliver results, both in terms of internal policies and geopolitics, writes Andrian Candu.

Azerbaijan is the best example that the one-size-fits-all approach of the EU vis-à-vis its neighbours does not work, a Commission official admitted to an audience in Brussels.

Azerbaijan’s relations vis-à-vis Europe should concentrate on creating future perspectives and overcoming current challenges, the Azarbaijani Ambassador to Belgium, Fuad Isgandarov, told EURACTIV in an exclusive interview.

There will never be a common foreign and security policy worthy of the name unless the EU manages to redefine its neighbourhood policies, writes Michael Leigh.

Georgia is a success story for the Eastern Partnership and for EU soft power, writes Irakli Garibashvili. Yet the country needs to go further to secure the stability of our region and to shore up human rights.

The European Union’s double standards in its dealings with Azerbaijan are damaging to the trust of a people that embraces European values, writes Ceyhun Osmanl?.

Similarly to Ukraine, post-Soviet Kazakhstan is also asserting its national identity, but the absence of EU ambition toward Astana and its participation in the Eurasian Union preserves the country from a Donbass-type scenario, writes Michael Emerson

Belarus has shown signs of wanting to set aside its political differences with the EU and work towards an Association Agreement. Now it is up to the EU to act, writes Viktor Yengibaryan.

A prominent Russian diplomat has called on the EU to abandon his “messianic” project of exporting democracy and instead solve its problems together with Russia, and not at its expense.