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Towards a genuine eastern partnership
Editorial
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f608466a-eb73-11e0-9a41-00144feab49a.html#ixzz1ZfDfVwI3
October 2, 2011 10:33 pm
For understandable reasons, most European Union governments tend not
to regard relations with the six former Soviet republics that lie
between the EU's eastern borders and Russia as their highest economic
and foreign policy priority. Rather than looking east, the EU has
spent two years looking inwards, thanks to the debt crisis, or south
at the Arab spring.
This inattention was noticeable in Warsaw last week at a summit of the
Eastern Partnership, which groups the EU's 27 member-states with
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. Angela
Merkel, Germany's chancellor, was the only high-level EU leader who
bothered to attend the event. The UK sent Nick Clegg, deputy prime
minister.
Mr Clegg made the right noises by arguing that the EU should offer
closer integration, up to and including full membership, to any
Eastern Partnership state that aspires to join the bloc and meets the
relevant criteria. Holding out the prospect of EU entry generates
momentum for domestic reform, raises economic standards and increases
a sense of responsibility on the international stage. From the
Mediterranean and Nordic region to central Europe, enlargement has
proved to be a most successful EU foreign policy tool.
But the plain truth is that the six Eastern Partnership countries
cannot put all their eggs in the EU's basket, because Russia's
geographical proximity, military power and economic weight limit their
options. Moreover, democracy and the rule of law are not sufficiently
entrenched in most eastern neighbours to justify talk of EU accession
- a point that was made strongly at the Warsaw summit with the EU's
condemnation of political repression in Belarus.
EU membership is a very distant prospect even for those neighbours,
such as Ukraine, which claim to view it as desirable. The EU should
therefore focus the Eastern Partnership on practical, deliverable
goals. It can start by helping its neighbours to develop a strong
private business culture and regulatory regimes compatible with
European rules on trade and investment.
One objective that is within reach is a free trade agreement with
Ukraine. Some EU governments want to block it because of the trial of
Yulia Tymoshenko, the opposition leader. Unquestionably, the trial is
a deplorable example of political intimidation. But if the Kiev
authorities halt it, as they should, the EU should respond by keeping
open the prospect of the free trade accord.
Editorial
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f608466a-eb73-11e0-9a41-00144feab49a.html#ixzz1ZfDfVwI3
October 2, 2011 10:33 pm
For understandable reasons, most European Union governments tend not
to regard relations with the six former Soviet republics that lie
between the EU's eastern borders and Russia as their highest economic
and foreign policy priority. Rather than looking east, the EU has
spent two years looking inwards, thanks to the debt crisis, or south
at the Arab spring.
This inattention was noticeable in Warsaw last week at a summit of the
Eastern Partnership, which groups the EU's 27 member-states with
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. Angela
Merkel, Germany's chancellor, was the only high-level EU leader who
bothered to attend the event. The UK sent Nick Clegg, deputy prime
minister.
Mr Clegg made the right noises by arguing that the EU should offer
closer integration, up to and including full membership, to any
Eastern Partnership state that aspires to join the bloc and meets the
relevant criteria. Holding out the prospect of EU entry generates
momentum for domestic reform, raises economic standards and increases
a sense of responsibility on the international stage. From the
Mediterranean and Nordic region to central Europe, enlargement has
proved to be a most successful EU foreign policy tool.
But the plain truth is that the six Eastern Partnership countries
cannot put all their eggs in the EU's basket, because Russia's
geographical proximity, military power and economic weight limit their
options. Moreover, democracy and the rule of law are not sufficiently
entrenched in most eastern neighbours to justify talk of EU accession
- a point that was made strongly at the Warsaw summit with the EU's
condemnation of political repression in Belarus.
EU membership is a very distant prospect even for those neighbours,
such as Ukraine, which claim to view it as desirable. The EU should
therefore focus the Eastern Partnership on practical, deliverable
goals. It can start by helping its neighbours to develop a strong
private business culture and regulatory regimes compatible with
European rules on trade and investment.
One objective that is within reach is a free trade agreement with
Ukraine. Some EU governments want to block it because of the trial of
Yulia Tymoshenko, the opposition leader. Unquestionably, the trial is
a deplorable example of political intimidation. But if the Kiev
authorities halt it, as they should, the EU should respond by keeping
open the prospect of the free trade accord.