Russian FM: Eastern Partnership initiative was alarming signal in EU-Russia relations
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has criticized the EU’s Eastern Partnership initiative which was created ten years ago. Photo: AP.
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says that the creation of the Eastern Partnership format by the EU in 2009, uniting Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine for democracy and stability in the region, was an alarming signal in Russia-EU relations.
The launch of the Eastern Partnership initiative, which was essentially aimed at breaking away from Russia our closest neighbours with whom we have been linked for centuries, has become an alarming sign in Russia-EU relations. The sad consequences of this selfish policy are felt to this day,” Lavrov says in his letter for the Rosiskaia Gazeta released today.
Lavrov says that the EU was not ready for equality in relations with Russia.
In the lexicon of Brussels the term Europe has finally become synonymous with the European Union. It is assumed that real Europeans are members of the EU and all the other countries of the continent still have to earn the high rank of Europeans. Thus, they are trying again to artificially divide the continent, distorting both geography and history, “ Lavrov said, adding that Russia has always been part of Europe.
Ten years have passed since the creation of the EU Eastern Partnership format, uniting six Eastern European countries to support democracy, prosperity and stability in the region.
Georgia has been recognised as the leader of the Eastern Partnership initiative with its achievements.
One hundred young European Ambassadors from the EU and its six Eastern partner countries- Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine are gathering this week in Brussels to celebrate the achievements of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) in the past decade.
The countries of the Eastern Partnership have created a catalogue of ongoing projects in need of investments, which will enable investors from the EU to examine the projects in detail, Deputy Minister of Economy Genadi Arveladze stated yesterday at a briefing.
Ten years have passed since the creation of the EU Eastern Partnership format, uniting six Eastern European countries: Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine to support democracy, prosperity and stability in the region.
The Eastern Partnership (EaP) ministerial was held in Luxemburg yesterday, where Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani once again emphasized that his country’s ultimate goal is EU membership.
Radio Liberty reports that France has rejected suggestions that the EU’s Eastern Partnership, which unites Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine, could lead to EU membership, insisting that half of its future funding goes to environmental investments according to the country’s two documents dated October 2019 and January 2020.
Foreign Ministers of Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova, David Zalkaliani, Vadym Prystaiko and Aureliu Ciocoi, have addressed the European Commission over the importance of “relevant financial support” for the Eastern Partnership in the next EU Multiannual Financial Framework for 2021-2027.
Paul L. Vandoren, a former EU Ambassador to Croatia and former acting EU Ambassador to Russia says that the EU is likely to acknowledge Georgia’s progress made to the EU on the June 18th Eastern Partnership Summit, adding that it is hard to say what terminology will be used to describe Georgia’s prospects for EU membership.
The European Parliament has adopted a resolution in the run up to the June 19 Eastern Partnership Summit, providing recommendations to the European Council, Commission, vice president of the European Commission and High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy on the Eastern Partnership.