The
European Union has gathered in Latvia to meet with eastern countries and
bolster ties. Russia has warned that the meeting "mustn't hurt" its
interests.
Deutsche Welle, 21 May 2015
European
Union leaders met in the Latvian capital of Riga on Thursday for a summit of
the bloc's Eastern Partnership program, eighteen months after the last meeting
set off a fateful chain of events that led to the current turmoil in Ukraine.
The program
seeks to bolster ties between the EU and six former Soviet nations: Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. Just before the two-day
summit, the European Union promised grants amounting to 200 million euros ($223
million) to support small and medium sized businesses in some of these
countries, including Ukraine, but as German Chancellor Angela Merkel (pictured
above with Latvian President Andris Berzins) stressed ahead of the meeting,
these talks "are not an instrument" of EU enlargement.
"We
should therefore not raise any false expectations that we cannot fulfill
later," Merkel told German lawmakers in Berlin before boarding her plane
to Riga.
Russia
takes center stage
Relations
with Russia are likely to be a hot topic at the meeting, as the last summit in
November of 2013 saw former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych withdraw his
country's bid to sign an association agreement with the EU, opting instead for
closer ties with Russia. The resulting protests in Kyiv ultimately caused
Yanukovych's ouster which, along with Russia's annexation of Crimea, brought
about the ongoing conflict in the east of Ukraine which has claimed over 6,000
lives.
The two-day summit will be closely watched by the Kremlin |
Speaking in
Riga, Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko said his country was "ready to
demonstrate a real fight against corruption and improve the investment
climate."
Earlier,
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov drew a line in the sand, saying that
while it wasn't a "tragedy" that the six nations were seeking closer
ties with Europe, the developments of the meeting "musn't hurt the
interests of the Russian Federation."
But Donald
Tusk, former prime minister of Poland and current European Council president,
dismissed Russia's "bullying tactics" after arriving in Riga.
"The
Eastern Partnership is not a beauty contest between Russia and the European
Union. But let me be frank: beauty does count," Tusk said at the start of
the summit. "If Russia was a bit softer, more charming, more attractive,
perhaps it wouldn't have to compensate its shortcomings by destructive,
aggressive and bullying tactics against its neighbours."
Tsipras to
meet with Hollande and Merkel
Although
Russia and its President Vladmir Putin will be important themes of discussion
at the summit, the Greek debt crisis will also be on the agenda. Greek Prime
Minister Alexis Tsipras is set to meet with Merkel and French President
Francois Hollande after dinner on Thursday, as an end of June deadline looms
over a debt deal for Athens.
However,
Germany's Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble downplayed hopes for reaching an
agreement soon, telling news agency Reuters on Thursday that the Greek
government's optimism may be unfounded and that one should not rule out a possible
default.
es/msh (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)
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