Warsaw is hosting a two-day summit of the Eastern Partnership states. Leaders of the program’s members, except Belarus, will meet their European counterparts to discuss a new project for rapprochement with the EU.
Leaders of 30 states will attend the meeting, including the German chancellor, the French, Hungarian and Spanish prime ministers and the presidents of Lithuania and the Czech Republic. President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso, Chairman of the European Parliament Yezi Buzek, Chairman of the European Council Herman von Rompuy and Diplomatic chief Catherine Ashton will attend.
Alexey Vlasov, Editor-in-Chief of Vestnik Kavkaza, believes that the summit will demonstrate the prospects for the Eastern Partnership in the coming years. Poland is taking a very active part in the summit’s schedule, as current chairman of the EU and the main lobbyist for intermediate forms of cooperation between the EU and the CIS, he says.
The main topics for discussion at the summit are trade-economic cooperation, visas and information. These three components are part of the global goal – the implementation of European values (democratic and market) in states that switched from the Soviet system, Vlasov noted.
Energy issues will be discussed at the summit, although it is not the key platform for energy talks. Such topics are usually discussed in a bilateral format, Vlasov says.
The position of Baku is of interest. Some of its experts express the willingness of Azerbaijan to support the Nabucco project at all times, while others are dropping hints to Russia that its preferences in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict could put the vector of Azerbaijani policy into a totally different direction, Vlasov states.
There are many subjective factors that influence this issue. It is not just business, but also an attempt to use energy potential to solve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
The Russian view of the Eastern Partnership program has never been clear-cut. Initially, the project was seen as an attempt to steal former Soviet states from Moscow’s sphere of influence. The modern approach has changed considerably. Even if certain politicians are worried about such contacts, they express optimism, understanding that the EU is vulnerable, in terms of the economy and finances. This may cause a cut in the financing of the program, Vlasov concludes.
