Chief Editor of EURACTIV Poland Karolina Zbytniewska reminded that in 2008 Poland and Sweden were the architects of the European Neighbourhood Program. Then she informed that six countries of the Eastern Neighbourhood plan to unite around values: “The question is still under discussion. The title issue is solvable. This initiative was also highlighted in Polish Foreign Minister’s speech, where he expressed his hope that at the Brussels summit the EU will be able to make a clear statement that all these countries have the prospect of joining the EU. It remains one of the cornerstones of Poland’s foreign policy”.
Irina Sushko, head of the Ukrainian non-governmental organization “Europe without Borders”, assured, that being under the Russian aggression, nevertheless, the Ukrainian society took that step and chose European values at the cost of a dignity revolution of Maidan.
Touching upon Armenia, the Ukrainian expert assured: “We think that Armenia has the opportunity to achieve visa-free regime, civil society should also pursue this issue”. As an advantage, he noted that new anti-corruption bodies have been established, and there is a necessary legislative framework for their effective activities. Another question is how much the Ukrainian authorities pursue the perfection of the body activities.
An expert of the Moldovan Institute for European Policy and Reform (IPRE) Yulian Rossou presented the history and outcomes of Moldova’s accession to the Association Agreement: “Of course, one of the achievements is the acquisition of a visa-free regime for Moldova. After a free visa regime has been established in Moldova, there is satisfying statistics: 67 percent of exports are directed to the EU. In this context, the issue of the Transnistrian conflict settlement is also important, which is pursued by Moldova and Ukraine. Currently, being in the framework of the EU agreement, we review our approaches to the settlement of the conflict. Here, it is important to control the joint checkpoints between Moldova and Ukraine, which increases the security in the region and provides certain guarantees between the Transnistrian Republic and our countries in terms of both citizens’ and trade flows”.
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
