Radio Free Europe, RFE/RL's Georgian Service, November 28, 2013
Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili has said he would like his country to get on with the "long and meticulous work" ahead of signing an Association Agreement with the EU by next September. |
VILNIUS --
Georgia and Moldova have initialed their respective Association Agreements with
the European Union ahead of the start of an EU Eastern Partnership summit in
Vilnius.
The process
leaves one page to be ceremonially initialed during the second day of summit
proceedings in the Lithuanian capital before more work that allows actual
signings months or years down the road.
None of the
other four so-called Eastern Partnership countries -- Armenia, Azerbaijan,
Belarus, and Ukraine -- is expected to initial deals in Vilnius.
Georgian
First Deputy Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani, who is leading his country's
delegation in Vilnius, told RFE/RL that the initialing of the some 1,000-page
document means it is already an irrevocable agreement.
Newly
installed Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili said earlier this month that
his country hoped to sign its EU Association Agreement by September 2014.
But he
noted that "long and meticulous work" must be done first.
A signed
Association Agreement would offer Georgia the possibility of closer economic
integration provided Tbilisi adjusts its legal, judicial, and economic systems
to fit certain EU norms.
Ukraine
last week turned its attention toward Russia and upended negotiations with the
European Union, putting a damper on the widely awaited summit and extending a
Moscow-backed chill between some post-Soviet states and Brussels. Kyiv's move
sparked street protests by pro-European Ukrainians who view with distrust
President Viktor Yanukovych's moves to ally their country more closely with
Russia.
Armenia
recently sent a similar message to the European Union, putting its priority on
a Russian-led customs union.
Belarus,
already a member of the same customs union, is still far away from any
intention of significantly deepening its ties to the European Union.
Azerbaijan
continues to negotiate for its own Association Agreement with the bloc.
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Students
take part in a rally to support EU integration in Kyiv
on November 26.
|
Related Articles:
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Ukraine's bloody crackdown leads to call for sanctions
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In Ukraine, Protests Highlight 'Generational Rift'
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