Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova, three Eastern Partnership countries, have signed a joint statement on the creation of a format of the EU plus the three countries for sectoral integration in transport, energy and other fields and to have full access to four liberties of the EU – free movement of goods, services, capital and the labour force.
The statement, which has been signed earlier today on the sidelines of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Bratislava, has been handed to the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell.
The statement also reads that 10 years since the creation of the EU Eastern Partnership format, uniting Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine, it is time a long-term strategy be drafted “which will ensure a closer cooperation of the countries with the EU.”
The statement says that EU integration is the free choice of the three EU-associated states and the choice “must remain free from any influence of the third country.”
The Eastern Partnership was created on April 7, 2009 to support democracy, prosperity and stability in Eastern Europe.
Georgia and the EU signed an Association Agreement on June 27, 2014 and on July 1, 2016 the agreement and its inclusive Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) deal fully entered into force.
