Euractiv: Eastern Partnership’s champions expect more from the ‘geopolitical Commission’

Euractiv, a pan-European media network, reports that as associated countries of Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova ask for a more ambitious Eastern Partnership (EaP) policy, the debate continues about the next steps and available financial support for what is lauded as one of the EU’s most successful foreign policies.

The next decade should move from overcoming the distance to overcoming the differences; from creating linkages to creating a common space,” Euractiv quoted Natalie Sabanadze, Georgian ambassador to the EU, as saying. 

The media says that calls for a more ambitious policy in the East with the three countries that have signed association agreements with the EU and hope to one day enter the bloc  – Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova – have also been echoed by the European Parliament.

• Georgia-Ukraine-Moldova deal, requesting EU+3 format for sectoral integration, new benefits

In a resolution passed last December, Euronest, the parliamentary assembly bringing together MEPs and politicians from the Eastern partnership countries, called for a move forward in promoting a more ambitious use of differentiation, more for more and less for less principles in the framework of Trio Plus Strategy 2030.

The idea was spearheaded by MEP Andrius Kubilius (EPP), hoping that the ‘Trio process’ could lead to the establishment of new institutions and policy instruments, Euractiv said.