Joint Declaration of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum

The Civil Society Forum of the Eastern Partnership meeting in Chisinau for its fifth annual meeting before the summit of the Eastern Partnership in Vilnius on November 29 reiterates its support for the Eastern Partnership (EaP) as an effective and peaceful mechanism of promoting democratic reforms including the establishment of the rule of law and sustainable market mechanisms in the six EaP countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.

The Forum hopes that the Association Agreement (AA) with Ukraine will be signed at the summit in Vilnius on condition that progress is achieved by Kyiv on issues of selective justice and other relevant reforms. Also the forum looks to the summit to initial similar agreements with Georgia and Moldova. The Forum regrets that the President of Armenia withdrew from such an agreement in favour of the Russian backed Customs Union and hopes that Armenia will return to a Europe oriented policy in the foreseeable future.

The Forum respects the right of democratically elected governments to choose their partners and allies in accordance with their national interests. However it rejects attempts by Russia to persuade EaP members to turn away from the EU through economic and political pressure and as has happened in Ukraine and Moldova and by pure force as in recent moves to encroach on Georgian territory. Such pressure from a country which is a member of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the Council of Europe (CoE) is unacceptable. It is good that the European Institutions are preparing ways of alleviating the losses which such pressure may cause.

The progress on AAs by some of the EaP countries should not cause major differences in the treatment of these countries by the EU. It would run counter to the basic principles of the EaP if the European Union was from now on to busy itself with monitoring the implementation of AAs in some countries and to lose sight of the need to continue to support the democratic reform process in others.

The EaP must retain its multilateral character and continue to treat the partner countries on an equal basis. Indeed those countries which have fallen behind in the drive to put AAs into place now need more attention than before. We note that beatings of oppositionists began in Armenia when the President decided to turn to the Customs Union. Belarus shows little sign of wanting to respect European democratic norms and in Azerbaijan the number of political prisoners has grown in the run up to forthcoming presidential elections. However the Civil Society Forum, however stresses the importance of the European Dialogue on Modernisation with Belarusian society as well as the necessity to preserve its multi-stakeholders nature.

The Vilnius summit must continue to focus on the best way of supporting the reform process in the EU’s eastern neighbourhood and in all the EaP countries. There can be no better way of securing the EU’s security than by continuing to work for the establishment of legitimate regimes and prosperous societies on its eastern borders. Those EU member states who do not understand this demonstrate a short sightedness which, in the not too distant past, has led to tragic calamities in Europe.

Only those countries which respect human rights including a free press, which seek to combat corruption and which chose their leaders and law makers in a free and fair way are inherently stable. The European Union needs inherently stable, free and prosperous neighbours in its eastern region. This is a message from Chisinau which the EaP summit in Vilnius must not forget.

Joint Declaration

(RU)