DISINFO: Eastern Partnership aimed at preventing integration of six republics into Eurasian space
SUMMARY
In 2009, Brussels launched the Eastern Partnership (EaP) programme for six post-Soviet republics - Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan as a mechanism for their rapprochement with the EU. In fact, this programme was aimed at preventing the integration of these republics into the Eurasian political and economic space, and not at their integration into the EU. Brussels kept all six post-Soviet states in limbo for many years in a row and with an undefined status.
RESPONSE
The Eastern Partnership programme is a frequent target of pro-Kremlin disinformation.
The Eastern Partnership (EaP) is a joint policy initiative that aims to deepen and strengthen relations between the European Union (EU), its Member States and its six Eastern neighbours: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. Within this framework, guiding the EU's relations with its neighbours is the EU’s Global Strategy and the European Neighbourhood Policy, which calls for the need to focus on increasing the stabilisation and resilience of the EU's Eastern neighbours.
It is a mutually beneficial and constructive platform for countries in the region to build a closer relationship with the EU if they choose to do so.
The EU does not demand any of its partners to make a choice between the EU or any other country. The Eastern Partnership was not an obstacle for Armenia and Belarus to join the Eurasian Economic Union. On 28 June 2021, the Belarusian regime took a unilateral decision to suspend (not terminate) its participation in the Eastern Partnership; a step that was met with broad criticism.
As for the claim that the EU kept all six post-Soviet states with an undefined status, it was initially known that the Eastern Partnership initiative is not an EU accession process.