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PRAGUE, Czech Republic — A European Union partnership program for six former Soviet states on its fringes is aimed at preventing a vacuum in a region where Russia also has strong interests, a Czech deputy prime minister said Tuesday.
Thursday's summit in Prague will launch the Eastern Partnership to boost economic and political ties with Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Moldova and Belarus — six states that are too poor or unstable to have any immediate chance of joining the EU if they wanted to.
"The aim is … cooperation between the EU and eastern neighbors at a time when on one hand they are not prepared for membership in the EU," Deputy Prime Minister Alexandr Vondra said in an interview. "The aim is to avoid any freezing of relations with the Eastern partners, prevent the emergence of some vacuum between the union and Russia."
Vondra said the plan was not aimed against Moscow and rejected concerns voiced in Russia that the EU was building a sphere of influence in former Soviet territory, an area that Moscow considers its backyard.
"This is not about spheres of influence, it is based on voluntariness and free will on both sides," he said.
EU Says Eastern Plan Aims to Avoid Vacuum
06 May 2009
Reuters
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