Partner.east # 1

The issue was dedicated to the general topic of the EU Eastern Partnership i.e. what does it mean Georgia for. In this article are counted major issues which are considered by this project i.e. relations cover almost all of the spheres excluding military one. Most important are the following directions: democracy, effective management and stability; economical integration and approaching to European political and economical standards; energy security and contacts among citizens. There will be concluded bilateral cooperation agreements but the approach would be individual to each county because they hold different levels in approaching and implementing of internal reforms. In future is planned step by step liberalization of visa regime. But it is a long-range outlook that requires effective struggle against illegal migration. EU is going to reach various agreements with partner states in the sphere of energy security. The EU has in fact already defined a budget of Eastern neighborhood. Eastern partnership is a strategically necessity and political investment for the EU.   In this issue is also an interview with the deputy chief of Press and Information office of EUMM. Ms Pamela Preusche underlined an importance and achievements of the mission in Georgia. According to her, already in the first weeks and months of our presence in Georgia, we have seen some very positive results.   “Russia has withdrawn from the areas adjacent to South Ossetia and Abkhazia. IDPs were able to return to these regions. We can see that the situation in these areas is pretty stable and getting back to normal. The Georgian government has made a huge effort to house those IDPs that cannot return to their places of origin. In the area controlled by the government in Tbilisi our work is going on very well. With regard to South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the mission until now had no possibility to enter these territories. The authorities controlling these territories do not allow access, so we keep knocking on the doors. The Incident Prevention Mechanism has been adopted in the last round of Geneva talks in February. The co-chairs of the Geneva talks were in Georgia in the end of March and an important part of their talks in Tbilisi, Sukhumi and Tskhinvali was how to proceed with the implementation of the Incident Prevention Mechanism. For the EU, the EU Special Representative, Ambassador Pierre Morel, took part in these talks. We are working hard on implementing the Incident Prevention Mechanism and, hopefully, we will get results soon,” – said Ms. Preusche in the interview.   Besides, In the first issue are covered several news that underline an EU assistance’s importance for Georgia. For example, EU and UNDP launch a new initiative in the regions suffered after August war; EU does not plan to declare independence of Abkhazia; EU commission provide a first part of tranche for reforming Georgia’s legal system with amount of 5 million Euros etc.   Also there is written an article on EU’s informative seminar for students which held in Gori. Internews foundation holds seminars in six regions of Georgia with financial assistance of the EU. Experts gave courses on various topics of the activity of EU. In the course of the discussion many views were heard from students’ side. They have shown a good knowledge of the EU’s mechanism. The next seminar is planned to hold in Kutaisi.