“The countries of the Visegrád Group (V4) regard the forging of alliances in an eastern direction on the part of the European union as strategically important”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said on Thursday following a meeting in Budapest between the leaders of the V4 and politicians from the countries of the Eastern Partnership, with the participation of representatives from the European Commission and Estonia.
At the joint press conference following the meeting, Mr Szijjártó called for the adoption of the most ambitious and courageous forging of alliances at the upcoming summit of EU and Eastern Partnership countries in November in Brussels.
“In addition, the V4 will also stand up in support of there being no reduction in the budget available for this purpose in the community’s next, seven-year programming period”, he added.
“The partner countries help curb immigration processes, and our access to far eastern markets would also be less effective without them”, the Minister said, adding that “The establishment of a system of allies that are friendly towards Europe would mean closer relations with countries that prevent the spread of the extremist ideologies that for the basis for terrorism”.
With relation to the results achieved so far, the Minister listed the visa-free travel agreements concluded with Ukraine and Georgia, as well as the association and free trade agreement with Ukraine, which comes into force on Friday.
Mr. Szijjártó also spoke about energy security criteria, pointing out that the linking of the Southern Bass Corridor to Central Europe would be impossible without the Eastern Partners.
Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowsky expressed his hope that at the Eastern Partnership summit in Brussels in November the heads of government of the countries involved would support the tightening of relations with the Eastern Partners. Speaking about the deepening of the level of cooperation, the Minister specifically emphasised the fact that the citizens of Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine can now enter the EU without a visa, and expressed his hope that concession would also be afforded to citizens of other countries in the near future.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin called the initiative an indication of European solidarity.
The coming into force of Ukraine’s association agreement will be an important moment, because we will be “moving forward towards a European future despite the Russian aggression”, he said. The politician called the meeting a fruitful one, at which the parties had discussed what must be done prior to the November summit.
“For Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia, this is the path towards membership of the European union”, he stressed, highlighting the fact that “the Ukrainians wants to build a European society and demolish all barriers between their country and the EU”.
Slovakian Foreign Minister Lukás Parízek stressed the importance of cooperation.
“An important summit will be held in Brussels in November, which is an indication of the fact that the EU will also be involved with the Eastern Partners, is providing them with a vision and will be developing cooperation”, he highlighted.
“It is important for the EU to stated what concrete measures it expects form the countries of the Eastern Partnership”, he said, adding that the six Partner Countries had given them their assurances that they will perform the required reforms.
Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister, Elmar Mammadyarov, stressed that the country is cooperating with the EU with regard to five points, and intensive negotiations are still currently in process with regard to a strategic partnership agreement. “We would like to place particular emphasis on trade, education and democracy, but an important role is also played by the Southern Gas Corridor, which could provide 20 percent of the EU’S natural gas reserves”, he added.
Czech State Secretary for Foreign Affairs Petr Gajdusek highlighted the fact that the Czech Republic would like to reinforce pragmatic cooperation, but also believes that a much wider path for the future should be put forward at the end of the November summit.
“Cooperation must enforce the differences between the individual countries and an individual approach must be applied with relation to every country of the Partnership, but the goal and the opportunities presented must remain uniform”, he said.
Georgian Foreign Minister Miheil Janelidze pointed out that this year it will be four years since his country because the European Union’s cooperative partner.
“We now have the opportunity to present Georgian products on EU markets and our country’s citizens can now enter the EU without a visa, but the final goal is full membership”, he emphasised.
Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei said the Eastern Partnership plays an important role in his country’s political and economic relations, and in the development of its energy infrastructure. He called for, amongst others, the reinforcement of business and freight transport relations with Central Europe.
Moldova’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Daniela Morari, highlighted the efforts her country had made to correspond to the requirements of the European Union, stating: “Moldova had chosen the European development model”. She reported on market liberalisation in Moldova, including amongst others within the field of energy, which are creating better opportunities for the private sector.
Head of EU Affairs from the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Gagik Ghalachyan, stressed the fact that his country is an active member of the Eastern partnership, listing as one of their achievements the partnership agreement concluded with the European Union. On the subject of conflict management, he said: “Armenia is committed to a peaceful solution with relation to Nagorno-Karabakh, and is assuring all possible rights to people living in the region.