Eastern Partnership: 2017 Brussels summit - Taking stock and new objectives

Briefing 20-11-2017

On 24 November 2017, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine meet with the European Union (EU) in Brussels for the fifth Eastern Partnership (EaP) summit. A lot has been achieved since the Riga summit in 2015: association agreements (AA) and deep and comprehensive free trade agreements (DCFTAs) have been in force with Georgia and Moldova since 2014, and with Ukraine since 2016. From 2017 onwards, Georgians and Ukrainians can travel to the EU without a visa, which highlights the EU's commitment to the region. The EU is about to sign an association agreement with Armenia and is negotiating a new framework for relationships with Azerbaijan. In June 2017, the European External Action Service and the European Commission jointly proposed to streamline the institutional architecture of the EaP, as well as putting forward a series of 20 deliverables for 2020, to benefit citizens of the region. Ahead of the summit, the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, bringing together members of both the Eastern Partnership countries' parliaments and the European Parliament, and the European Parliament itself, have defined their positions. The European Parliament called, in November 2017, for the EaP summit to inject new dynamism into the partnership and to set a clear political vision for its future in the long term.