Baku, Azerbaijan, May 22
Trend:
The draft declaration of the Eastern Partnership Summit, held in Riga, has no phrase on the possibility of accession of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine the EU, RIA Novosti reported citing the Brussels-based online newspaper, Euobserver.
It was reported that in the summit's declaration, it will be announced that the participants "acknowledge the European aspirations and the European choice of interested partners", without mentioning the prospects for future membership.
However, Euobserver's source close to the EU leadership, said although the heads of the EU leading countries made it clear in Riga that the issue of EU's enlargement through the participants of Eastern Partnership is not considered today, they don't "rule out anything" in the long run.
The Eastern Partnership program envisages the political association and economic integration of the EU with Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. The last three countries signed an agreement on associated partnership with the EU in 2014.