The European Union held its first meeting at foreign ministers’ level with the six members of the Eastern Partnership, on 8 December, with outgoing External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner expressing hope that the initiative could develop into an economic partnership similar to the EU’s relationship with the EFTA group. “I’m very proud to see how far we’ve come,” Ferrero-Waldner said after the talks with ministers from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine.

In particular, she pointed to plans to conclude association agreements with those members that make sufficient progress on democracy, human rights, market economy and good governance. Ferrero-Waldner said she expected Moldova to open negotiations on such an agreement early next year, joining Ukraine, where talks are already “fairly advanced”.

A negotiating mandate for the European Commission to open talks on association agreements with Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia is currently under discussion by EU member states.

Belarus is lagging behind the other nations despite signs of a thaw in its relations with the EU, which have long been frosty due to concern in EU capitals about the authoritarian rule of President Alexander Lukashenko.

Continued tensions were underscored when Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt clashed at a news conference with his Belorussian counterpart, Sergei Martynov, over the expulsion of opposition activist Tatsyana Shaputska from university after she attended a meeting of the ‘Eastern Partnership’ civil society forum in Brussels in November.

Martynov insisted the expulsion was decided by university authorities on the grounds of absenteeism. Bildt, however, contented that state security had played a role. “It might be that state security bodies are concerned with absentee rates, but that is not normally what state security bodies do,” he said.

Despite the differences, Martynov said his country was making progress in building ties with the EU, pointing to a package of joint projects which his government has put forward for EU support along with Belarus’ neighbours Ukraine and Lithuania. The projects included cultural, energy and transport initiatives, notably the modernisation of a transport corridor linking the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, with the Lithuanian Baltic Sea port of Klaipeda via Minsk and Vilnius.

Ministers from the Eastern nations called on the EU to relax travel rules for their citizens appealing for visas that are cheaper and easier to obtain as a step towards visa-free travel. Allowing students and other citizens to travel more freely to the EU will build ties and break down barriers helping spread prosperity and stability, said Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, whose government has also faced human rights criticism from the EU.

The Eastern Partnership was launched earlier this year on the initiative of Sweden and Poland to help develop closer ties and promote good governance and development in the nations situated between the EU and Russia. The program has a budget of €600 million up to 2013.

Ferrero-Waldner said the EU will launch an institution building programme in early 2010 that will send experts to develop tailor-made programmes that can speed up reforms.

A cooperation project on civil protection was due to be launched at a meeting in Göteborg, on 9 December, and new initiatives on small and medium-sized businesses and environmental governance are expected to begin in the first quarter of 2010.

Bildt, however, pointed to the limitations of the partnership, saying its role did not include seeking to resolve the various conflicts involving the Eastern partners, such as the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan; Russia’s recognition of Georgia’s breakaway regions; or the stalemate over Moldova’s separatist Transnistria region.

Spain, which takes over the EU Presidency from Sweden next year, said it will continue to make the focus on the East a priority. “The importance of the Eastern Partnership for the EU is guaranteed for the future,” said Diego López Garrido, Spanish secretary of state for the EU.

He said at least two high-level meetings will be held with the Eastern partners during the Spanish Presidency, including a ministerial gathering in Poland.