A two-day Eastern Partnership Summit is to be held in the capital of Latvia on May 21 and 22 – the fourth one since this program was launched in 2009. Many hopes were pinned on this Swedish-Polish initiative. The idea was that this would bring the eastern neighbors closer if not to EU membership then at least to getting this prospect. This is what Ukraine has always been insisting on, incidentally. However, it is obvious that neither the former nor the latter has occurred, and experts are calling into question the very survival of the Eastern Partnership. No wonder the foreign minister of Latvia, which holds the EU presidency now, described the Riga meet as “summit of survival.”
Ukrainian diplomats, who insist on being told about the exact date of EU visa cancellation and the membership prospect, are saying it is a “summit of failure.”
On the eve of the summit, criticizing the European neighborhood policy, also towards the eastern neighbors, many experts offered some ways to salvage the European partnership. Ulrich SPECK, a Berlin Carnegie Center expert, emphasized that the EU should set what he thinks is a right goal to the Eastern Partnership: integration, transformation, and cooperation. On his, part, Ian Bond, foreign policy director at the Center for European Reform, named five steps to save the Eastern Partnership. He also thinks that the European Union must set a goal to the partnership. Secondly, he says there should be a clear differentiation between the partners. He points out, among other things, that the pre-summit press release very vaguely describes “the EU’s determination to maintain close and differentiated relations.” Thirdly, the expert stresses, the EU should communicate better with its partner countries and make its proposals easier to grasp. In this context, Bond broaches the question of membership prospects. “The European Union Treaty says in no uncertain terms that any European state, which adheres to and pledges to spread European values, can apply for membership in the Union.” Even an indirect departure from this provision reinforces the Russian claim that the EU does not want at all to see eastern Europeans as its members and Eastern Europe is the region of Russia’s “privileged interests,” as the then President Dmitry Medvedev put it in 2008. “The EU must get down from the fence and say that it will keep the door open for membership, no matter how long this will take, and Russia has no right to close this door,” the expert pointed out. Fourthly, Bond emphasizes, the EU must stop viewing the Eastern Partnership as a purely technical exercise. And, fifthly, it is necessary to secure the success of Ukraine, the expert concludes.
Former president of Latvia Vaira Vike-Freiberga believes that the EU’s Riga Summit “is unlikely to see a declaration granting the prospect of EU membership to any country approved.” “The EU enlargement fatigue does exist and the alliance is not ready for this. There are many issues to solve, and the EU is not ready to cope with them. However, the very fact that the summit will take place shows that the countries of Eastern Europe want to express solidarity with the southern EU countries,” Vike-Freiberga explained. The summit in Riga is also evidence of the EU’s concern about developments on the borders of Europe. “The Russian Federation has very clearly stated its intent to determine its neighbors’ fate. It has claimed this region as its own neighborhood. We in Europe also say that this is our neighborhood, and you are in the middle of it all. The question arises, then, what are relations between these neighbors? Since World War II, the EU has never invaded anyone. We follow EU norms in dealing with our neighbors,” the former president of Latvia told us.
According to her, even if there is no prospect of membership for Ukraine, such an approach would be “a model for good governance.” “The enlargement of the united Europe is a political decision, linked to diplomacy and international relations and taking into account the situation in the world. However, what are most important are the facts on the ground, the technical situation in the country, the way its judicial system works, whether it has the free press and fair elections and so on. Diplomatic efforts and winning friends are another matter, for it is a political process. Here, nation’s efforts are less important than the end result,” Vike-Freiberga told The Day.
As for the results of the summit, the former president of Latvia noted: “Even if there is no immediate switch to visa-free travel, a clear prospect of it will be declared, as well as plans for economic cooperation and economic assistance.”
