News

At the meeting of EU Foreign Ministers on 22 April in Luxembourg, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius stressed that some progress had been achieved during the two months after the last discussion on the Eastern Partnership; however, the EU must find a better way to take into account expectations of is partners in the run-up to the Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius.

“Pardoning former Minister of Internal Affairs Yuriy Lutsenko creates positive momentum. This long-awaited and very important step demonstrates that Ukraine stays true to its pro-European choice and is ready to sign the Association Agreement with the EU,” The Foreign Minister Linkevičius said. “Ukraine has made significant progress, but Europe expects Kyiv to build on it, safeguarding further progress and implementing key reforms.”

The Lithuanian Foreign Minister expressed belief that the planned visit of the Dutch, Polish, Danish and Lithuanian Foreign Ministers to Kyiv on 25 April would help to improve the EU’s awareness of Ukraine’s goals and would provide a good opportunity to encourage Ukraine to pursue its reforms in order to ensure the signing of the Association Agreement with this country at the Eastern Partnership Summit on November 28 and 29 in Vilnius.

Linkevičius stressed that in March the negotiations regarding the political segments of three agreements with Armenia, Georgia, and Moldova had been essentially finalized. Moreover, the Lithuanian Foreign Minister hoped that the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreements would be finalized very soon. The Minister also urged the EU to assess the European aspirations of countries with high ambitions - Moldova and Georgia – and find appropriate language on the points of their Association Agreements.

“Moldova and Georgia are the front-runners in the reforms. They have a clear sense of direction and naturally high ambitions. We need to find a forward-looking language on the outstanding points of their association agreements. This is about finding symbolic but meaningful wording that would motivate them to continue with reforms, to stay on the chosen path, helping them to strengthen the domestic political consensus. We cannot fail to recognize Georgia as a European country. The Eastern Partnership is about European countries, as it was clearly stated at the Warsaw summit,” Linkevičius said.

The Foreign Ministers also discussed relations with Belarus. The Council welcomed a decision to reopen Sweden’s mission to Minsk and expressed expectations that in the run-up to the Vilnius Summit more steps would be taken aiming to normalize relations with the EU.