Promotion of human rights and rule of law in former Soviet states is to form the “core” of the EU’s new Eastern Partnership policy, according to a draft EU summit declaration seen by EUobserver.
“Shared values including democracy, the rule of law, and respect for human rights will be at its core, as well as the principles of market economy, sustainable development and good governance,” the text says.
“The Eastern Partnership should provide the foundation for new Association Agreements between the EU and those partners who have made sufficient progress towards the principles and values set out [above].”
EU leaders are set to formally adopt the document, which was drafted by the Czech EU presidency, at a summit in Brussels on Thursday (19 March) and Friday. The text could be changed at the last minute.
Apart from values, the declaration says the region is of “strategic importance” and the EU has an “interest in developing an increasingly close relationship with its Eastern partners, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine.”
The inclusion of Belarus prompts the question whether values or geopolitics are paramount in the initiative.
EU diplomats agree that the country’s authoritarian president, Alexander Lukashenko, has done little to merit involvement in the policy at this stage. But the EU fears Russia will strengthen its grip on Minsk if it is left out.
Andrew Rettman