Post by tuftabis on Jun 12, 2008 2:48:34 GMT -7
Poland Pushes for New 'Eastern Partnership'
By W.Ż.
11 June 2008
A Polish-Swedish initiative presented to the European Union as the EU Eastern Partnership has attracted attention in European capitals and outrage in Moscow.
The joint proposal by Warsaw and Stockholm is aimed primarily at strengthening regional cooperation with the EU's eastern neighbors.
The plan calls for establishing a forum of regional cooperation between the EU-27 and five eastern neighbors: Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia, and also with Belarus on a technical and expert level.
The forum would serve to implement ambitious objectives; the idea is to work towards visa-free border traffic with the neighbors covered by the initiative and to set up a "deepened" free trade zone for agricultural services and goods. The plan also envisages the signing of agreements on cooperation with the individual neighbor countries, like the one the European Commission is currently negotiating with Ukraine. Other plans include projects related to culture and education (such as student exchanges), environmental protection, and energy, each encompassing at least two or three of the countries in the planned partnership.
As envisioned by the Swedes and Poles, the Eastern Partnership would be "neutral" for the EU budget, which means that projects would be co-financed from EU funds only within the funding assigned for neighborhood policies in the budget for 2007-13.
Contrary to the French proposal for a "Union for the Mediterranean," addressed to the EU's southern neighbors, the Eastern Partnership does not envisage a separate new structure.
continued
www.warsawvoice.pl/view/18068
By W.Ż.
11 June 2008
A Polish-Swedish initiative presented to the European Union as the EU Eastern Partnership has attracted attention in European capitals and outrage in Moscow.
The joint proposal by Warsaw and Stockholm is aimed primarily at strengthening regional cooperation with the EU's eastern neighbors.
The plan calls for establishing a forum of regional cooperation between the EU-27 and five eastern neighbors: Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia, and also with Belarus on a technical and expert level.
The forum would serve to implement ambitious objectives; the idea is to work towards visa-free border traffic with the neighbors covered by the initiative and to set up a "deepened" free trade zone for agricultural services and goods. The plan also envisages the signing of agreements on cooperation with the individual neighbor countries, like the one the European Commission is currently negotiating with Ukraine. Other plans include projects related to culture and education (such as student exchanges), environmental protection, and energy, each encompassing at least two or three of the countries in the planned partnership.
As envisioned by the Swedes and Poles, the Eastern Partnership would be "neutral" for the EU budget, which means that projects would be co-financed from EU funds only within the funding assigned for neighborhood policies in the budget for 2007-13.
Contrary to the French proposal for a "Union for the Mediterranean," addressed to the EU's southern neighbors, the Eastern Partnership does not envisage a separate new structure.
continued
www.warsawvoice.pl/view/18068