MEPs want to reward reforms made by Eastern partners 

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  • Eastern partners who made substantial progress on EU-related reform could be allowed to join the customs or energy union
  • EP calls for establishing a trust fund for Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova
  • Keep pressure on Russia to resolve conflicts in the EU eastern neighbourhood

The November summit between the EU and its Eastern partners should pave the way for a trust fund and reward reforms by offering them entry into customs union.

MEPs on Wednesday welcomed the significant progress made since the last Eastern Partnership (EaP) Summit, held in Riga in 2015. They pointed out that some Eastern partners have made major reforms and that Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova now benefit from free trade and visa-free regimes with the EU.

 

They are also in favour of clear benchmarks for future cooperation, stressing that no further EU deals will be ratified with a country that does not respect EU values or intimidates human rights defenders and journalists.

 

For the next Summit, to be held in Brussels on 24 November, MEPs recommend:

 

  • setting up a trust fund for Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova, which could focus on private and public investments in social and economic infrastructure,

 

  • creating an “EaP+” model for associated countries that have made substantial progress on EU-related reforms to offer them the possibility of joining the customs union, energy union, digital union or even the Schengen area and abolishing mobile roaming tariffs,

 

  • supporting economic reforms aimed at phasing out monopolies, limiting the role of oligarchs, preventing money laundering and tax evasion,

 

  • maintaining collective pressure on Russia to resolve the conflicts in Eastern Ukraine, the occupied territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and Transnistria,

 

  • supporting the deployment of an armed Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) police mission in Eastern Ukraine.

 

The resolution was adopted by 519 votes to 114, with 47 abstentions.

 

Quotes

 

Parliament’s co-rapporteur Laima Andrikienė (EPP, LT) said: “We propose very concrete steps to guarantee that our Eastern Partnership policy is a success - the Eastern Partnership Plus format, which includes a trust fund, a new European Investment Plan and financial support mechanism for the implementation of the Association Agreements. It is not dedicated to oligarchs, but to ordinary people in fields such as energy savings, jobs, public service or reconstruction”.

 

Co-rapporteur Knut Fleckenstein (S&D, DE) added: “Accession to the customs union, energy union, digital union, the Schengen area and the gradual abolition of roaming charges provide a wide range of ways in which this Eastern Partnership can and should be developed further. The prerequisite for this is the implementation of reforms we agreed upon. The summit must not only talk about what has been achieved, but what needs to be done and where to do homework."

 

Quick facts

 

The Eastern Partnership was launched in 2009 to deepen political and economic ties between the EU and the six Eastern European partners: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.

 

The 5th Eastern Partnership summit will take place in Brussels on 24 November 2017.