EU plans to bring 6 ex-soviet republics closer

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Source: CCTV.com | 05-08-2009 09:21

The European Union has launched what it calls an "Eastern Partnership". The plan embarks on a long and difficult process to bring six former Soviet republics politically, economically and socially, closer to the EU bloc.

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili (L) talks with  Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende before of an  EU-Eastern Partnership Summit in Prague. (AFP/Dominique Faget)

After a four-hour summit in Prague on Thursday, European Commission President Jose Manual Barroso announced the EU would provide a total of 600 million euros under the partnership for these countries to carry out political and economic reforms.

EU leaders are praising the newly-formed "Eastern Partnership", aimed at stabilizing the EU's eastern borders and boosting multilateral and bilateral cooperation with Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. But some EU member states, including France, Spain, Italy and Britain showed little interest in the "Eastern Partnership". Their leaders did not participate in the summit.

Editor:Liu Anqi