EU parliament does not support membership of Eastern Partnership states

The Committee on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament did not rate the prospects of EU membership for the states included in the Eastern Partnership program, UKRINFORM reports.

The session in Brussels on Wednesday approved two reports on reconsideration of the European policy of good neighborliness in the eastern and southern sectors.

Both reports will be considered at a plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg in two weeks.

The project of the parliamentary resolution does not include EU membership for the Eastern Partnership states (Georgia, Azerbaijan, Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus and Armenia).

The membership thesis was declined by the European People’s Party, Marek Sivets, author of the report on the Eastern Dimension and Polish parliament member, said after the voting.

The Eastern Partnership program was initiated by Poland and Sweden in 2009. The program involves the political and economic rapprochement of the EU and participants in the partnership program, simplification of the visa regimes, cooperation in energy and introduction of free trade zones.

Sivets said that the report on the Eastern Dimension by the European People’s Party contains innovative principles of relations between the EU and its Eastern partners, taking into account the principle of differentiation and stimulation of democratic development.

The updated concept will determine indicators of political, social and political reforms. Achieving the necessary indicators will lead to greater support from the EU.

The deputy said that stability in the East, against the backdrop of the disorders in North Africa, was achieved with support from the EPP.

The second summit on the Eastern Partnership program is planned in Poland, the new EU chairman this year, in autumn 2011. The second summit on the program was held in Prague in May 2009.