Member of the European Parliament Urmas Paet said at the parliament’s foreign affairs committee meeting that if concrete decisions will not be taken at the upcoming Eastern Partnership summit, there is a risk of creating disappointment in Eastern Partnership countries, particularly in Ukraine and Georgia.

According to Paet the summit in Riga on 21 and 22 May can be successful only if concrete decisions are made concerning the future development of closer relations between the EU and Eastern Partnership countries, in particular Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova.

“We have to send a strong message by setting a specific date for visa liberalization, but at the moment it seems that we will not have this outcome from the summit. In addition there is no consensus in the EU concerning the EU perspective to Eastern Partnership countries. Therefore there is a significant risk that at an already difficult time, the Eastern Partnership summit will create disappointment, because nothing concrete is decided,” he added.

Paet stated that setting a date of visa liberalization for Ukraine and Georgia is of key importance. “Moldova attained a visa free travel regime to the European Union a year ago and during this time 75 000 Transnistrian residents have obtained Moldovan citizenship. This shows that visa liberalization with the EU has political influence,” he said.

Paet added that the EU has to be able to prevent the disappointment of the summit, and that the clearest way of doing that would be to make a decision regarding visa liberalization for Georgia and Ukraine. In addition, a consensus should be achieved concerning the EU perspective to Eastern Partnership countries.

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Urmas Paet, a member of the European Parliament, stated that on the day marking the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, there is still fighting going on for a free society in Europe and the dividing lines have not disappeared.

The fall of the Berlin Wall eliminated the physical and symbolic barrier between the societies of the free world and those suffering from the totalitarian regime, Paet said. „However this process is not fully over in Europe. There is war in Ukraine because they wish to move towards free Europe. And Russia is preventing Moldova and Georgia from developing normally and has created areas of frozen conflict in those countries“.

He added that the fall of the Berlin Wall has reached its goal fully only when all the societies of Europe are free and democratic. „But today, when we celebrate Fathers day in Estonia and in some other countries, many fathers and sons in Donetsk are perishing because Russia has not stopped bullying its neighbour Ukraine and does not allow them to determine their own future“ Paet said.

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