Draft EU declaration to be discussed at Eastern Partnership Summit

PanARMENIAN.Net - Prague will host a summit to launch the Eastern Partnership project for six non-EU former Soviet Bloc nations on May 7.

The Eastern Partnership, a priority for Czech presidency that ends June 30, is designed to boost the European Union's relations with Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.



Promotion of human rights and rule of law in former Soviet states is to form the "core" of the EU's new Eastern Partnership policy, according to a draft EU summit declaration seen by EUobserver.

"Shared values including democracy, the rule of law, and respect for human rights will be at its core, as well as the principles of market economy, sustainable development and good governance," the text says.



"The Eastern Partnership should provide the foundation for new Association Agreements between the EU and those partners who have made sufficient progress towards the principles and values set out [above]."

EU leaders are set to formally adopt the document, which was drafted by the Czech EU presidency.



Apart from values, the declaration says the region is of "strategic importance" and the EU has an "interest in developing an increasingly close relationship with its Eastern partners, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine."