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Europe's East

Questions raised over Prague May summitry

The ousting of Mirek Topolánek is raising questions regarding a series of high-profile international meetings in Prague, as the Czech prime minister-in-resignation will still be the EU's official chair when the summits take place in early May.

Analysts said the Czech EU presidency had "de facto ended" after Topolánek's government lost a no-confidence vote in the Czech parliament on 24 March. READ MORE

New Foreign Policy Strategy of Georgia

Georgia and Azerbaijan have signed a document on cooperative political plans in 2009.

“Azerbaijan and Georgia have no political problems”, stated Georgian Minister of Foreign Affairs Grigol Vashadze after negotiations with his Azerbaijani colleague Elmar Mamedyarov held in Tbilisi. READ MORE

LITHUANIA’S MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS: THE EU EASTERN PARTNERSHIP INITIATIVE PROVIDES A BROAD BASIS FOR COOPERATION

During his official visit to Azerbaijan, Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Vygaudas Ušackas gave a lecture called “Azerbaijan and Lithuania: Eastern Partnership from the Caspian to the Baltic” at the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy in Baku. READ MORE

Azerbaijan-Ukraine relations developing dynamically: Azerbaijani president

The first meeting of Azerbaijani and Ukrainian Presidents Council was held in Azerbaijan.

At the meeting Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev expressed confidence that the official visit of Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko to Baku would develop and enhance friendship relations between two countries.  READ MORE

Martynau: “Essentially our attitude to Eastern Partnership initiative is positive”

Belarusian Foreign Minister Syarhei Martynau stated that Belarus finds it important that the Eastern Partnership program offered by the European Union provides for equal partnership.

“Essentially Belarus has a positive attitude to the Eastern Partnership initiative. It is important that the Eastern Partnership is oriented to equal partnership,” stressed the head of the Foreign Ministry in Minskafter his meeting with the visiting prime minister of Germany's federal state of Brandenburg, Matthias Platzek. READ MORE

European Union's Eastern Partnership Plan Disappoints Ukraine

By Pavel Korduban

President Viktor Yushchenko was vexed when European Commission President Jose Barroso suggested that he and Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko should make peace for the sake of Ukraine's stability. "I don't want to get advice on what to do anywhere in Europe, this is humiliating," said Yushchenko, reacting to Barroso's peaceful initiative at the summit of the EU's right-of-center People's Party, which Yushchenko and Tymoshenko attended together in March. Yushchenko's reaction betrayed the degree of disappointment with what is widely seen in Ukraine as betrayal by the European Union of the past-Orange Revolution hopes for faster integration into the EU. READ MORE

Integrating a Regime into Eurostructure Democratizes It

Within the development of the dialogue between Belarus and the European Union the bilateral cooperation attracts more attention of society.

The idea of mechanisms and means of cooperation of Belarus with international community expresses Tatiana Poshevalova – an expert of the Program of the European Commission “Support to the development of the potential and network cooperation of Belarusian NGOs and the local authorities”. READ MORE

EU's New Eastern Partnership Draws Ire From Russia

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov criticized on Saturday the European Union's new partnership with six former Soviet states, suggesting the 27-member bloc was seeking to extend its own sphere of influence. READ MORE

EU assigns funds and staff to “Eastern Partnership”

By Andrew Rettman

With EU leaders putting €600 million in the pot for the Eastern Partnership, the European Commission is mulling over how to assign personnel to run the new project.

"The means are there for this to start up, that's the most important thing," Czech EU presidency foreign minister Karl Schwarzenberg said in Brussels on Friday (20 March), after EU leaders approved the policy at a meeting dominated by multi-billion euro plans on the economy. READ MORE

Jacek Saryusz-Wolski: “Belarus Remains the Weakest Point”

The Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament Jacek Saryusz-Wolski expressed his view on possible participation of Belarus within the EU program of Eastern Partnership.   READ MORE