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Eastern Partnership: Way or blind alley leading Azerbaijan to the European Union?

30 June 2008 10:53 (UTC +04:00)

Bucharest. Dr. Fakhri Karimli-APA. Last month was remembered with a number of important events for the European part of former USSR. Eastern Partnership initiative of the European Union put forward by two Baltic countries â€“ Poland and Sweden and offered to cover Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia was new for most.

Actually, prelude of Eastern Partnership initiative happened earlier â€“ on April 21. At the meeting of the European Parliament vice-president of Christian Social Union of Bavaria Ingo Friedrich initiated to establish Eastern European Union that will be joined by Ukraine, Moldova and countries of the South Caucasus. Though it has been confirmed that the countries of Eastern European Union are situated in the continent, they should have chosen the â€œthird wayâ€, i.e. the prospect of these statesâ€™ EU membership should at least have been postponed temporarily. Ingo Friedrich considers that EU has already fully used its chances of extension and it would not be right to leave European countries without prospects.
â€œEastern European Union should be regarded as a way of solution for the countries that will gradually near the European Union,â€ he said.
Approximately a month later â€“ on May 26 Poland and Sweden put forth similar initiative at the meeting of EU foreign ministers. The New Eastern Partnership initiative was planned to include 27 members of European Union and the above-mentioned Post-Soviet countries. In this respect it was planned to have discussions on the abolition of visas, establishment of free trade zones and signing strategic contracts, and to implement projects concerning exchange of students, protection of environment and energy supply. Belarus could join the initiative on the level of experts and Russia could only be involved in the local initiatives, for example in the solution of Kaliningrad problems. Unlike Mediterranean Union authored by France and mostly covering Muslim countries on the coast including Israel, the new organization would not have a secretariat, would be coordinated by the European Commission and financed by the budget of European Neighborhood Policy for 2007-2013. In fact, Moscow itself understood that the main aim of the initiative was to save the above-mentioned countries from the influence of Russia. On the other hand, Eastern Partnership should be assessed as the member statesâ€™ refusal of EU membership dreams.
First, it was reported that France supported the idea, Germany, Great Britain and Netherlands took interest in the idea, but later it was known that the initiative had unexpected new friends and enemies and that it hit the interests of a number of countries. This factor played a decisive role in the destiny of the initiative.
In this respect, Spain, Italy and Portugal doubted the initiative from the beginning, but unexpectedly Romania and Bulgaria stated that they were against the initiative. The new organization competes with the European Unionâ€™s Black Sea Synergy project put forth by these countries.
Official of the Romanian foreign ministry Raduta Matache said the Eastern Partnership could play just a final role in the project. â€œWe have to be confident that the EU new initiative will correctly reflect the Romaniaâ€™s legitimate interests in the eastern neighborhoodâ€. According to the EU Commissioner for the Foreign Relations and Neighborhood Policy Benita Ferrero-Waldner at least one billion euro per year will be allocated for the â€œBlack Sea Synergyâ€ project. â€œBecause the organization intends to take advantage from the opportunity created after the Romaniaâ€˜s and Bulgariaâ€™s joining the European Union which makes the Union a part of the Black Sea regionâ€.
On the other hand, neither Ukraine, nor Moldova is satisfied to give up the EU membership. The Ukrainian foreign ministry issued a statement which demands to open prospects of EU membership for the countries joined the initiative. This position is supported by Poland, author of the Eastern Partnership idea. The foreign minister of this country Radoslav Sikorsky said that the Eastern Partnership gives to its members a membership opportunity unlike the Mediterranean Union supported by France. â€œWe have European neighbors in the East and they have a right to apply for EU membership onceâ€.
One more interesting aspect for Azerbaijan is the connection between the Eastern Partnership and Mediterranean Union. As is known France intends to close the Turkeyâ€™s way to EU through the second initiative and it is accepted by the European countries not unambiguously. Supporting the Eastern Partnership project, France thinks to win the sympathy of the EU post-socialist members and to use it in the EU defense issues. Including the Eastern European issues in agenda, France intends to distract EU attention from the Turkeyâ€™s membership process. According to the French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner â€œthere is no sin in the enlargement toward both the South and the East at the same timeâ€.
On July 1, France will take over EU Chairmanship. It creates additional opportunities for the projectâ€™s success. At first Paris has to win support of EU â€œheavy artilleryâ€ â€“ Britain and Germany. Experts said the French diplomacy needed to make special efforts in Berlin. According to the political scientist Alexander Rar it causes particularly from the lobbying of the idea by Poland which is in the strategic contest with Germany. â€œI donâ€™t believe that Germany will support this step. Probably the initiative will failâ€. However Czech Republic, succeeding France in EU chairmanship in 2009, seriously advocates for the project. Czech Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Vondra said the project met the Pragueâ€™s intentions. â€œThere should be a balance next year. This year is a year of Mediterranean Sea. Therefore it should be a year of the East next yearâ€.
Anyway the Eastern Partnership is a good opportunity for Azerbaijan to avoid the traditional concept of European Neighborhood Policy joined by the â€œSoviet Europeanâ€ countries and associated with the context of North African countries. The new initiative will provide these five countries with the significant integration into Europe even if doesnâ€™t specify their membership to EU in future.