A group of politicians in the European Parliament has enforced the worst scenario to start the operation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Eastern Partnership Initiative. The statement was made by Andrei Savinykh, Head of the Information Office, Press Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus, as he commented on EuroNest’s start without Belarus.
“We are forced to state that a group of politicians in the European Parliament has enforced the worst scenario to start the operation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Eastern Partnership Initiative,” said the official spokesman of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “Incomplete EuroNest’s launch runs contrary to the principles approved by the Eastern Partnership Initiative summit in Prague in 2009 and totally undermines the democratic legitimacy of this association. The Republic of Belarus does not believe that approaches and resolutions of this EuroNest are binding”.
“Negative consequences of the step the European Parliament has made go beyond boundaries of the parliamentary dimension, delivering rather essential damage to the Eastern Partnership Initiative as a whole, its balance, value, effectiveness and prospects,” said the official.
Andrei Savinykh made it clear that the Eastern Partnership Initiative will no longer be relevant and sensible if it becomes a discriminatory, slow and amorphous process with neutered content.
“The Eastern Partnership initiative should not be an instrument of encouraging unnecessary rivalry in our region, between two European poles. It should reconcile the potential and interests of Russia and the EU for the decent development and prosperity of post-Soviet states,” the head of the European Integration Department of the Chief European Directorate of the Foreign Ministry of Belarus Dmitry Yarmolyuk said at the international conference “Prospects of the Eastern Partnership” on 5 May.
In his words, the Eastern Partnership initiative has both advantages and drawbacks. Advantages include a special cooperation format of the EU with its eastern partners. Another advantage is multilateral cooperation of the countries to resolve the problems of the whole region. Dmitry Yarmolyuk emphasized, “One more advantage Belarus can gain is the implementation of our multi-vector policy. The declared objectives of the Eastern Partnership initiative chime in with our own development priorities”. This pertains, in particular, to the gradual liberalization of trade with the EU member states, formation of a common integration platform, harmonization of the national legislation with European in the areas where it can serve Belarus’ interests: unification of technical norms and standards, border protection, combating illegal migration, diversification of energy sources, enhancement of energy security, etc.
At the same time, the projects implemented within the Eastern Partnership are of the so-called gentle nature. This implies holding seminars, training sessions on sharing best practices on the unification of norms and standards, political rapprochement and creation of foundation for the economic integration. Apart from that, Belarus can take part in the program only in the multilateral format, but it is actually excluded from the Euronest Assembly because of political considerations of the European Union. “All these drawbacks have discouraged a number of participating states to take part in the project, which significantly reduces the value of the Eastern Partnership and its development prospects,” the expert is convinced.
He informed that Belarus has put forward a series of proposals to improve the program. For example, it would make sense to give more focus to large-scale infrastructure projects. It is necessary to consider additional cooperation formats of the business circles and economic entities in the Eastern Partnership. “Belarus has initiated the establishment of an eastern cooperation forum, a business forum of the Eastern Partnership that would bring together companies, enterprises and economic structures of the EU and partner states to materialize the declared goals of the Eastern Partnership initiative,” Dmitry Yarmolyuk said.
