About: Eastern Partnership Archives

EXCLUSIVE / Croatia, which starts its first EU presidency stint in January, is "not quite happy" with Finland's proposal for the EU's seven-year budget and will seek to amend the proposal in order to preserve funding for Cohesion and the Common Agricultural Policy, the country's Foreign Minister Gordan Grlić Radman told EURACTIV.

In one of his first public appearances, Olivér Várhelyi, Commissioner for neighbourhood and enlargement, said on Thursday (4 December) reviving civil society and economy by reaching out to youth would be his priority in the context of Eastern Partnership.

When billions of dollars disappear from banks in Ukraine and Moldova, and justice isn't done in spite of European funds supporting judicial reforms in these countries, trust in the EU is inevitably eroded, said a high EU official.

In a wide-ranging interview with EURACTIV, Georgian politician Tamar Chugoshvili speaks of the reactions in her country following the recent EU decision not to open accession talks with North Macedonia and Albania, and of Georgia’s plans to remain in the EU orbit nevertheless.

In line with EU aims to deepen relations with the Eastern Partnership countries, EU and Georgian officials on Monday (16 September) launched a European School in Tbilisi, the first educational institution of this kind launched beyond the bloc’s boundaries.

Germany’s minister of state for Europe delivered a blunt message to a gathering of the Eastern Partnership, organised in the Georgian Black Sea city of Batumi on Thursday (11 July): unless reforms in Eastern Europe speed up, its young people will leave to find a better life in Western Europe.

Georgia staked its claim to becoming an EU member on Thursday (11 July), even if it meant an innovative approach and "knocking on every door", its president told an international conference marking the tenth anniversary of the Eastern Partnership in the Georgian Black Sea city of Batumi.

On a visit to Baku on Tuesday (9 July), Council President Donald Tusk said the EU and Azerbaijan were “coming closer to each other every year”, and expressed the Union’s readiness to further deepen our cooperation with Azerbaijan, including in fields such as human rights.

The strategic interests of Ukraine and the EU are "exactly the same", European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said on Tuesday (14 May) on the sidelines of a jubilee summit marking a decade of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) in Brussels.

An “Association Agreements plus” with a secretariat, a rotating presidency, and the creation of a regional economic area. These could be the next steps for the "Eastern Partnership" (EaP) launched 10 years ago, writes Prof. Jacek Czaputowicz.

In a wide-ranging interview, the Ambassador of Georgia to the EU talked about the lessons learned from 10 years of Eastern Partnership, her country’s reforms, relations with neighbours, including the biggest one – Russia.

Ahead of the Eastern Partnership's (EaP) tenth anniversary in May, EU foreign ministers are next week set to review the progress of the bloc’s framework with the six countries, with the situation in Ukraine being the elephant in the room.

In a wide-ranging interview, the former Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta, who has founded a new centre-left force, Pro-Romania, doesn’t mince his words criticising his former party, the ruling PSD. The Party of European Socialists (PES) should, if necessary, show PSD the red card, he says.

It’s curious that the EU’s initiative “Connecting Europe and Asia” makes no mention of two of its most important players – the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and the Chinese “Belt and Road” Initiative, writes Yuri Kofner.

In a wide-ranging interview, the Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov discussed his country’s relations with the EU, major energy and transport projects, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and relations with global players.

Many praise Georgia as being a good pupil in the Eastern Partnership class, but cementing contacts between Georgia and EU citizens is much more than signing political agreements, writes Mikheil Batiashvili.

Foreign affairs chiefs from Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Ukraine met in Georgia this week to take part in commemorations marking 10 years since Russia’s invasion of the Caucasus Republic during 2008's August War.

Ukraine hopes that the Slovak presidency of the Visegrad group will resuscitate stalled cooperation between the group and the Eastern European country. But Kyiv still has a lot to learn about how the V4 does business, warns Hennadiy Maksak.

The offer by the European Commission to let the College meet on an annual basis with Georgia’s leadership is unique when comparing it to relations between the EU and other third countries, writes Steven Blockmans.

A milestone in EU-Azerbaijan relations was reached in Brussels yesterday (11 July), with the end of negotiations of the EU-Azerbaijan Partnership Priorities in the presence of President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, and the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev.

EU-NATO cooperation is a good framework for bringing Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, and others, closer to the Alliance, and improving their security, writes Andreas Marazis.

In a wide-ranging interview, Victor Negrescu, the Romanian Minister Delegate for European Affairs, presents the priorities of the upcoming Romanian Presidency (1 January-30 June 2019), during which the European elections will be held, as well as the first post-Brexit EU summit.

Many forces wish to undermine Georgia’s democratic development, and this is why the EU engagement and cooperation must be much more active, writes Gunnar Hökmar.

The EU has already failed in the Mediterranean and is hardly a relevant player there. Now it risks being isolated if it repeats the same mistake with its Eastern neighbours, Norica Nicolai, the European Parliament Rapporteur on the EU-Azerbaijan Comprehensive Agreement, told EURACTIV.