Foreign Minister strengthening European ties in Brussels
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Wednesday, December 15
The foreign ministers “emphasized the strategic importance of the Eastern Partnership as a way to deepen and strengthen relations between the EU and the Partner countries,” reads final conclusion, released after the meeting, which was chaired by EU foreign policy Chair Catherine Ashton. “Ministers stressed the need to make further progress particularly in negotiations on Association Agreements, including Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Areas.”
The foreign ministers discussed areas where “more could be done within the Eastern Partnership”, including improving sectoral cooperation; facilitating the participation of the Partners to the EU programmes; strengthening cooperation in conflict prevention and resolution and consolidating the role of civil society.
“There has been good progress made in the Eastern Partnership with Georgia. So I think with Georgia and European Union things are going in the right direction,” Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb stated regarding Georgia.
Together with my counterparts we have discussed the progress achieved and talked about how we should continue the cooperation. It is considered that Georgia has achieved great success in bilateral relations with the European Union and we want to see similar progress in multilateral, regional cooperation, “Vashadze stated.
The reporters have underlined the importance of financial support from the EU side for the reforms ongoing in partnership member countries. It has also been mentioned that those countries should be heavily involved in cultural and educational projects and programs carried out by the European Union. Some issues for the 2011 Budapest summit have been discussed and it has been decided that the summit will be held as a productive and politically loaded forum.
According to the Russian news agency ITAR-TASS, France, Poland and Germany representatives of the ministerial have appealed to the EU to improve its cooperation with NATO, which will make EU participation in international events more effective and concrete results on the creation of a common defense system should be achieved. As the agency says, the letter has been sent to Ashton.
Political analyst Soso Tsiskarishvili told The Messenger that the Georgian Government must first clarify its political orientation, “it’s important to understand how difficult achieving European integration will be for Georgia. False optimism will do no good – a free trade agreement and a visa free regime are all matters for long discussion, especially when the EU is constantly encouraging Georgia to harmonise its legislation with international standards. If we really want to simplify the visa regime with Europe what will Europe say about Georgia’s relations with Iran on the same issue? Optimism doesn’t mean being a dreamer – we should just realise that relations with the EU aren’t simply dealt with by Tbilisi and Brussels,” the analyst told us, stressing that Georgia will integrate with Europe if it stays loyal to it.”