The Eastern Partnership should be an instrument of the EU enlargement for those countries that seek membership

Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, Chair of the Committee on Ukraine's Integration into the EU, stated this during a public discussion “Ukraine's Achievements in the Eastern Partnership and Plans for the Future”. The monitoring report of the Ukrainian National Platform of the EaP Civil Society Forum “Ukraine's progress in implementation of 20 Eastern Partnership deliverables for 2020” was presented during the discussion. In May last year, the EaP turned 11 years. This foreign policy format of the EU's cooperation with its neighbours was launched on 7 May 2009. It connects the EU member states and six Eastern European neighbours — Azerbaijan, Belarus, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. The initial goal of this format was to deepen cooperation between the countries of Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus with the EU and update the legal framework of relations by replacing partnership and cooperation agreements with association agreements, creating deep and comprehensive free trade zones, visa liberalization between the EU and partners.

Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze is convinced that today the Eastern Partnership should be considered as a possible tool for fulfilling the strategic goal of Ukraine - gaining membership in the European Union. Therefore, the instruments offered by the EaP, in the opinion of the Chair of the Committee, did not correspond to Ukraine's ambition. “Many of the things that EaP countries could and should have used during these years in cooperation with the EU, were lost, in particular, in 2020», - Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze said. She also added that the countries participating in the program implemented these opportunities in very different ways. Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia, which have greater ambitions for the EU, together with some European parliamentarians have tried to raise the issue of differentiation within the “EaP”. Differences in this format of cooperation, according to the Chair of the Committee, became even more pronounced in 2020, in particular, due to the pandemic and the geopolitical situation. Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze is convinced that Russia's influence was not taken into account within the framework of the EaP. “The neglect of the Russian factor and the Kremlin's influence, as well as the aggression against Georgia, the aggression against Ukraine, the ongoing presence and hybrid influence on Moldova and, obviously, all the events taking place in Belarus, the Azerbaijani-Armenian war — all this raises the primary importance of the geopolitical context, including in the framework of the Eastern Partnership”, - the Chair of the Committee said.

Preparing a report on Ukraine's progress in implementing the twenty deliverables of the EaP by 2020, experts analyzed 20 areas and made assessments of the implementation in these areas, including the rule of law, anti-corruption infrastructure and public administration reform. The Chair of the Committee noted that all Ukraine’s achievements in these areas were offset by the real situation in Ukraine. “The legal arbitrariness that is taking place in the country now cancels out what we have on paper today”, - Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze said. The situation is similar, according to the Chair of the Committee, with judicial reform, “rolling back” in the field of energy and civil service reform, when, allegedly due to a pandemic, people began to be hired without competition.

Regarding the prospects of this format of cooperation with the EU, Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze is convinced that it should take into account Ukraine's ambitions and the level of its cooperation with the EU. The agenda, proposed by the Council of the European Union in May 2020 as a vision of the future of the EaP, did not meet the challenges we face and the goals and strategies we set for ourselves as a state, the Committee Chair said. “I would very much like the Eastern Partnership, which was created more than a decade ago, not to keep to the status quo of ten years ago. The EaP should become an instrument of the EU enlargement for those countries that aspire to it and demonstrate success in fulfilling their European integration goals. The EU's enlargement policy cannot end with the Western Balkans”, — Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze said. She is also convinced that Ukraine can use the EaP instrument to fulfil its ambitions under the European Green Deal, which provides for the creation of climate-neutral and sustainable economies on the continent. “I think it is important that Ukraine - and perhaps the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Government will do it - tries to draw more attention to those areas that are relevant in the framework of the Government's ambitions for the European Green Deal. These are, in particular, environmental protection, energy and agriculture”, — the Chair of the Committee summed up.