Podiumsdiskussion:
A New Ostpolitik for Europe?

The EU’s Eastern Partnership and Beyond

Tschechische Botschaft
Wilhelmstrasse 44
10117 Berlin
Berlin Brandenburg

Beschreibung:

At its Prague Summit on 7 May 2009, the European Union will officially launch its new Eastern Partnership. This initiative builds on the experience with the European Neighbourhood Policy which, since its launch in 2004, has produced a mixed record of building closer co-operation with and advancing democratic reforms in the countries to the east of the EU’s borders.

Critical deficits of stability and democracy in the Eastern neighbourhood have become increasingly obvious, and the war in Georgia last summer, the energy crisis in the winter, or recent events in Moldova represent but the latest examples. At the same time, these events have served to make it clear that events in Europe’s eastern periphery can have a considerable impact on the EU itself – including on its credibility as a foreign policy actor in the region. For this reason, Poland and Sweden proposed an initiative in May 2008 which, as a special dimension of the European Neighbourhood Policy, hopes to build closer co-operation with Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. The Eastern Partnership as formulated by the European Commission in December 2008 includes a mix of bilateral and multilateral measures, and hopes to facilitate political association, economic integration and human contacts between the Eastern neighbourhood and the EU. The Eastern Partnership is being greeted with considerable expectations in the six neighbouring countries. It reflects the pressing need for the EU to engage more proactively and effectively with its neighbours to the East. Moreover, a successful Eastern Partnership would not be without repercussions on the EU-Russia relationship and could well become a building block for a more comprehensive Eastern policy of the EU.

Kategorie:

Politik

Veranstalter:

German Marshall Fund of the United States, Bertelsmann Stiftung, Embassy of the Czech Republic

Ansprechpartner:

Peter Sparding

Anmeldung bis:

11.05

E-Mail / Fax für Anmeldungen:

psparding(at)gmfus.org

Telefonnummer des Veranstalters:

030 28 88 13 22

Teilnehmerbeitrag:

keiner

Weitere Informationen:

www.czech-embassy.de