Audronius Ažubalis: Europe Won’t Assure Its Energy Security without the USA
"Europe is not yet able to assure a single energy course without the USA, and this is its weak point", – considers the head of Lithuanian Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs Audronius Ažubalis. During the interview to DELFI he dwelled on priorities of foreign policy, the EU initiative of “Eastern Partnership”, energy security and the view on the operation of Russia-NATO Council that will officially resume its work in the end of April.
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East looks west, EU’s Eastern Partnership beckons
At a Summit meeting on March 19-20, the European Council officially approved the establishment of the Eastern Partnership (EaP.) It will embrace six countries of Eastern Europe: Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, and Moldova. The Summit of the Eastern Partnership will be held on May 7, 2009, in Prague. This Summit must originate this EU initiative.The Eastern Partnership is a response to the desire of the EU’s Eastern neighbors to draw near to the European Union. The project anticipates realisation of programmes formerly available only to official candidates for the EU, as well as their financial and institutional provisions. READ MORE
Russian Roulette In The EU Neighborhood
Russia has six bullets with which to wound or kill the European Union's Eastern Partnership, and put the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy out of its misery in the process.
It is generally accepted that the project is at the mercy of Moscow, the old colonial master of the six privileged European neighbors: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine. READ MORE
Lithuania Is Ready To Assist Georgia In Benefiting From The Eu Eastern Partnership Initiative
On 15-16 April, a delegation headed by Undersecretary of Lithuania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Evaldas Ignatavičius paid a working visit to Georgia. During the visit, the delegation met with the heads of the Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Affairs Committee and Regional Development Committee of the Parliament of Georgia, as well as with other high-ranking officials and leaders of the Georgian opposition. 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
Last Interview With Mathew Bryza?
What will be the policy of the White House with Obama? Today, politicians and analysts can only guess, but they all agree that Washington won’t change its foreign policy course greatly, especially because it will be headed by a well-known Hillary Clinton, and position of the Security Minister is still occupied by Robert Gates. It will be possible to make certain conclusions only in April, after the summit of the “Great Twenty” in London. This meeting of the Presidents of the leading countries will be a political presentation of Barak Obama. There the US and Russian Presidents will meet each other for the first time. Deputy assistant of the US Secretary of State Mathew Bryza dwells on future of Russian-American and Georgian-American relations. READ MORE
Euro-Atlantic factor
Moscow is still going to persuade its partners in the OSCE to realize by means of this organization an ambitious reform of the system of international security.
Appearance in Washington of the new administration has agitated the hopes on softening confrontation with Moscow. In some political narrators’ opinion, the presidents Obama and Medvedev, both representing the first generation of politicians, developed after the Cold War, can manage to do what their predecessors did not. This optimism strengthened still more after a presentation of the US vice president Joe Bayden on recent Munich conference, where he stated that in Russian-American relations it came time to press the button "reset". READ MORE
