By KYIV. Dec 12 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Eastern Partnership initiative and the European Union’s neighborhood policy must undergo fundamental changes after a year of full-scale Russian aggression, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said.
"While one country in the region purposefully embodied an aggressive and anti-European policy, the EU strategy should have focused on reducing the gray zone of uncertainty east of its border and integrating countries that sought to protect their European choice and identity. Putin took the EU’s uncertainty towards its eastern neighbors as an invitation to aggression," the Ukrainian Foreign Minister said during an online speech at the Eastern Partnership ministerial meeting.
Kuleba also stressed that the Eastern Partnership needs to be reformed, and proposed three key principles of modernization.
"Firstly, the initiative should become a transit tool for those countries that are interested in strengthening political association and economic integration with the EU. Secondly, in the future, a powerful tool Global Europe with a budget of almost EUR 80 billion should be implemented. Thirdly, the Eastern Partnership should become a tool for deepening sectoral cooperation with the EU in the fields of security, migration, energy, transport, countering hybrid threats and disinformation. At the same time, security should be the key component," he said.
The minister added that despite the full-scale war, Ukraine continues to implement structural reforms and is determined to fulfill all the steps determined by the European Commission to start accession negotiations.
