Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski makes the case for the relevance and importance of the Eastern Partnership to the European Union in an article in Thursday’s Wall Street Journal, Polskie Radio reported.
Sikorski writes that one of the ‘fundamental tenets’ of Poland’s foreign policy is to support its Eastern neighbours. The country, together with Sweden, proposed the Eastern Partnership initiative for the European Union, which was inaugurated at a May Summit in Prague.
The intent of the Partnership is to aid the transformation of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and the Ukraine and engage them with Europe in multi-lateral cooperation.
The Foreign Minister adds that Poland’s goal is not to alienate Russia, but rather to work strategically with the country and the former satellite states.
“If we see Russia’s future as being in partnership with the European Union, we cannot deny the same prospect to our common neighbours. It would be a poor solution for the EU and Russia to be separated by a region whose contacts with Europea are less substantial than those with Russia,” stated writes Sikorski, adding that integration with Eastern Europe and the Southern Caucasus increases the likelihood of Russia to adopt a pro-European stance.
The Pole wrote, as well, that the states are key to the EU, not only in terms of geography, demography and economic potential, but also to ensuring the energy security of the continent as gas pipelines flow through the Ukraine, Belarus and Georgia, with Azerbaijan being one of the world’s major oil producers.
