News from Berlin – Following the Foreign Affairs Council that took place in Brussels on July the 22nd, the Foreign Ministers of the 28 EU countries met to discuss the Eastern Partnership. The EU Foreign Ministers met with their counterparts from Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova as part of the so called 28+6 grouping.

The Eastern Partnership is an initiative of the EU launched in 2009 to strengthen its ties with the post-Soviet states of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine. The project was intended to provide a venue for discussions of trade, economic strategy, travel agreements, and other issues between the EU and its eastern neighbours.

The Partnership aimed to set the foundations for new Association Agreements between the EU and partner countries which have made sufficient progress in areas ranging from governance to fiscal discipline. In addition, it sought to establish joint intuitions that would pave the way for the creation of a new free-trade zone embracing the 28 EU states and the six partners.

On June the 27th 2014, on the sidelines of the EU summit of Heads of State and Government, Association Agreements were signed with Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia. Alongside discussions on cooperation agreements, the talks focused on the preparations for the next Eastern Partnership summit in Riga in May 2015.

News from Berlin – Berlin Global