Belarus and Moldova invited into EU? Europe ponders countering 'resurgent' Russia
(Read article summary)At Prague summit today, EU leaders seek stronger ties with six former Soviet republics.
BERLIN – Amid fears of growing economic and political instability in several former Soviet republics, the European Union (EU) convened a summit meeting in Prague on Thursday aimed at forging a stronger partnership between the 27-member bloc and its eastern neighbors.
The summit’s agenda includes launching the EU’s Eastern Partnership plan, arguably its biggest outreach effort to Eastern Europe since its 2004 enlargement let in eight formerly communist countries.
The plan targets EU relations with Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus, Armenia, and Azerbaijan.
The goal?
To get these countries to adopt political, economic, and social reforms modeled on the EU – and in return, eventually to enjoy a degree of engagement with the bloc, including free trade and visa-free travel.
Brussels has made no secret that this is its latest effort to counterbalance the influence of a resurgent Russia and to commit these countries to looking westward, rather than eastward.
But with Ukraine reeling from the economic crisis, Moldova recovering from violent political unrest last month, and Georgian opposition forces currently clashing in the streets of Tbilisi and calling for the ouster of President Mikheil Saakashvili, the EU’s outreach is now being seen more immediately as a policy to bring stability to a volatile region (more news on this here).
