“Eastern Partnership” is a European Union foreign policy initiative, which applies to 28 EU Member States and six Eastern European neighbors – Azerbaijan, Belarus, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.
Launched on May 7, 2009 at the Prague Summit on the proposal of Poland and Sweden, the initiative aims at deepening cooperation between the EU, Eastern Europe and South Caucasus with the EU and updating the legal framework for relations by replacing partnership and cooperation agreements with association agreements, creating deep and comprehensive free trade areas, liberalising visa regimes, and establishing a European Neighbourhood Policy.
The emergence of Eastern Partnership led to the separation of EU foreign approach to relations with its Eastern and Southern neighbors who were in the same conditions under the previous European Neighborhood Policy. This is important as the Southern EU neighbors are not territorially European states. Consequently, those partners cannot be considered as potential EU Member States.
“Eastern Partnership” is based on bilateral cooperation between the EU and Eastern partner countries, as well as on multilateral cooperation between parts. Introducing the multilateral dimension of political and expert dialogue is one of the main differences of the Eastern Partnership from the European Neighborhood Policy.
The multilateral cooperation operates on four levels:
Summit meetings which includes Heads of State and Heads of Government of the EU Member States together with the representatives of partner countries are held every two years.
Summit meetings that took place: Constitutive Summit held on May 7, 2009 in Prague; the second Summit held on September 29-30, 2011 in Warsaw; the third Summit – on November 28-29, 2013 in Vilnius. The last Summit took place on May, 2015 in Riga.
Meeting of Foreign Ministers of the EU and of the partner countries is usually scheduled once a year in Brussels. The meeting is focused on the progress achieved and the prospects of further development of Eastern Partnership relations. The members of the meeting usually revise and endorse key goals and work programs of multilateral thematic platforms of Eastern Partnership.
Thematic Platform of Eastern Partnership.
Thematic platforms are used to exchange information and experience between partner countries in the context of reforms and institutional transformations. The platforms also facilitate the establishment of direct links between experts from partner countries and EU Member States. Each thematic platform meets at least twice a year. The platforms are accountable to the meeting of Foreign Ministers.
Current thematic platforms:
1) Democracy, good governance and stability;
Democracy and human rights; Justice, freedom and security; Security and stability. Two flagship initiatives supported by this thematic platform: “Integrated Border Management” and “Prevention of, preparedness for, and response to natural and man-made disasters” is being implemented.
2) Economic integration and convergence with EU policies.
Trade and regulatory approximation; Socio-economic development; Environment and climate change. The flagship initiative “Tools to promote small and medium-sized enterprises” is being implemented
3) Energy Security;
Reinforcing solidarity; Support infrastructure development, interconnections and diversification of supply; Harmonization of policies in the energy sector. Two flagship initiatives “Development of regional electricity markets, energy efficiency and renewable energy” and “Environmental management” are being implemented.
4) Contacts between people.
The issue of culture; Education and Science; Information Society and Media.
Working groups ( panels) to support the work of the thematic platforms in specific areas.
Furthermore, the multilateral cooperation also includes:
The informal dialogue at the level of foreign ministers and sectoral ministers of the partner countries as well as the EU Commissioners on multilateral sectoral cooperation and overall development of the initiative;.
Civil Society Forum was organised to encourage broad public participation in the work. The purpose of the Forum is to establish networking among NGOs and facilitate their dialogue with state authorities. The Civil Society Forum operates on the same principle as the thematic platforms and receives financial support from the European Commission. In each of the partner countries, National Platforms of the Forum have been established. The Ukrainian National Platform of the Forum brings together more than 150 non-governmental organisations in Ukraine;
The parliamentary dimension is provided by the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, in which Ukraine is represented by the Standing Delegation of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
Updating the European Neighbourhood Policy/Eastern Partnership Policy
In early March 2015, the European Commission announced a broad consultation on the review of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). Consultations with partner countries continued until the end of June. On June 25, 2015, Ukraine submitted its proposals for updating the ENP to the EU, advocating for the Eastern Partnership to be separated into a distinct EU policy area with more ambitious instruments for its implementation that are commensurate with the European integration aspirations of the EU’s Eastern European partners.
On November 18, 2015, the Joint Communication of the European Commission and the High Representative of the European Union, “Review of the European Neighbourhood Policy” (hereinafter referred to as the Communication), was published and endorsed in Council Conclusions on the ENP Review of December 14, 2015.
The introductory part of the Communication points out that the stability of the EU is based on democracy, human rights, the rule of law and economic openness, which is why stabilisation is the main political priority of the renewed ENP. Therefore, stabilisation will become the most relevant issue in many parts of the neighbourhood over the next three to five years.
Neighbourhood stabilisation in the sense of communication has a three-dimensional structure:
The political dimension – the development of democracy, good governance, reform of the justice sector based on the rule of law and fundamental rights, and broad support for civil society.
The economic dimension – supporting economies and improving prospects for local populations. These actions aim to make partner countries places where people want to build their future, as well as to prevent uncontrolled movement of people. In particular, the full and effective implementation of the Association Agreements/DCFTAs is a key priority and, together with the implementation of reforms, will lead to the comprehensive approximation of the respective partners to international standards, as well as EU legislation and standards. This will lead to the gradual economic integration of partners into the EU internal market and the creation of a common economic space.
Security dimension – cooperation on security-related issues, including conflict prevention through early warning, security sector reform, cooperation in the fight against terrorism and anti-radicalisation policies. Safe and legal mobility, combating illegal migration, human trafficking and smuggling are also priorities.
At the same time, the ENP will be of key importance for the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy and other areas of EU external action. The results of the ENP review should be taken into account in the preparation of the EU’s Global Strategy on Foreign and Security Policy.
Key principles of the updated ENP:
Differentiation and a tailor-made approach – partnership with the EU and each of the partner countries, reflecting different ambitions, capabilities and interests. The EU aims to further develop relations with partner countries in order to maximise the benefits of cooperation between the parties, including increasing opportunities for political dialogue at ministerial level. 2016 – marks the beginning of a new phase of cooperation, which could lead, if necessary, to the establishment of new jointly agreed partnership priorities;
According to the Communication, the ‘more for more’ approach has been successful in supporting reforms in the areas of good governance, democracy, the rule of law and human rights, where there is a commitment by the parties to implement such reforms. However, according to the EU, this approach did not provide sufficient incentive for reform in areas where there was no political will. Therefore, the EU intends to explore more effective ways to achieve reform objectives in partner countries, including engagement with civil society, economic and social actors;
Focus on a specific set of priorities (economic development and support for youth employment, energy, security and the fight against terrorism, migration, etc.);
Strengthening joint ownership among partners – the new ENP should focus on bringing together the efforts of the EU, EU Member States and partner countries. Thus, the innovation of the ENP is the accent on the need for full involvement of EU Member States and the Council of the EU in defining ENP priorities and their implementation (including joint programming). In this way, Member States can be invited to participate as lead partners for certain initiatives or to complement certain reform efforts.
Flexibility – primarily of existing financial instruments operated by the ENP. This principle aims to improve the EU’s ability to respond to crisis situations. The overall balance in the distribution of funds for financing the ENP (a total of €15 billion under the ENI instrument for the period 2014-2020) remains unchanged: two-thirds of the funds will be allocated to the Southern Neighbourhood countries and one-third to the Eastern Partnership countries. At the same time, within each regional envelope, a so-called ‘flexibility cushion’ of 10% will be introduced for the urgent needs of partners (post-conflict recovery, support for refugees, overcoming the consequences of crises and emergencies, etc.).
Visibility – improving communication on the ENP and raising awareness of the policy and its results. This should include strengthening strategic communication efforts, including appropriate support for partners, as well as support for independent media in the neighbourhood.
The updated ENP introduces a new approach to reporting, which, unlike the previous approach (a single set of reports on the progress of all partner countries simultaneously), will focus on achieving goals agreed jointly with partners. Reporting will support the work of Association Councils, Cooperation Councils and other high-level events. In addition, the Council invites the High Representative and the Commission to provide regular information on developments in the neighbourhood, in accordance with the requirements of the European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI) Regulation.
The regional dimension of the renewed ENP will go beyond the neighbourhood in addressing common challenges. The High Representative and the Commission, in cooperation with the Council, should develop a new thematic framework with interested ENP partners to establish cooperation on regional issues in the neighbourhood with state and multilateral actors, as well as other partners.