EU ready to intensify assistance to ENP countries

PanARMENIAN.Net - In May 2011, in the midst of dramatic changes sweeping the Southern Neighbourhood, the EU completed a major review of its European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). According to a policy of “more for more”, committed reformers in the EU’s Southern and Eastern neighborhood would be awarded greater and broader EU support.

The ENP package presented today, May 15 by Catherine Ashton, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Commission Vice-President and Štefan Füle, EU Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy, assesses the first year of implementation of the new approach. It also proposes a roadmap for giving further impetus to the implementation of the Eastern Partnership.

Upon finalization of the assessment, High Representative Catherine Ashton declared: “Last year, we relaunched our Neighborhood Policy to reflect the historic changes going on around us. We now see the first results of this review, which sought to intensify assistance to those who went further in democratic and economic reforms. We have seen great progress in some countries. In others, we need to encourage the political leadership to take bold steps down the path to reform. I have always said that we will be judged on our work with our immediate neighbors, and I am convinced that we are moving in the right direction. We will continue to help our partners in their efforts to embed fundamental values and reinforce the economic reforms which are necessary to create what I call ‘deep democracy’.”

Štefan Füle added, “While we should not indulge in self-congratulation and we should always make a reality check about the effectiveness of our policy, we have set the new policy on solid grounds and have developed many initiatives that I am confident are already bearing fruit”.

There was substantial progress on political association with partner countries. Negotiations on an Association Agreement (AA) have been launched with the Republic of Moldova, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Progress has been made on economic integration (so called Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Areas as an integral part of AAs); negotiations were launched with Moldova and Georgia, and will shortly be launched with Armenia. Similar negotiations with Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia are likely to be opened before the end of the year, the official EU website reported.