Eastern Partnership

What is the Eastern Partnership?

The Eastern Partnership is a cooperation framework. It was launched in 2009, as a joint initiative between the EU, EU member states and six Eastern European partner countries:

• Armenia
• Azerbaijan
• Belarus
• Georgia
• Moldova
• Ukraine

The Eastern Partnership is a specific eastern dimension of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). Through the ENP, the EU works with its southern and eastern neighbours to achieve the closest possible political association and the greatest possible degree of economic integration.

Three Eastern European partner countries (Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia) are currently in the EU accession process.

• EU enlargement

As of 28 June 2021, Belarus has suspended its participation in the Eastern Partnership. In line with the February 2024 Council conclusions on Belarus, the EU maintains cooperation with Belarusian civil society as an important partner in the Eastern Partnership. 

• EU sanctions against Belarus

How does the Eastern Partnership work?

The EU is committed to having strong, tailor-made and mutually beneficial cooperation with EaP partners, whatever the individual level of ambition in their relations with the EU. In exchange for the partner countries undertaking political and economic reforms, the EaP offers:

new contractual relations

deep and comprehensive free trade agreements

steps towards visa liberalisation

Additionally, the Eastern Partnership provides a solid framework for multilateral cooperation and facilitates the deepening of  bilateral cooperation with the EU.

Multilateral cooperation

Eastern European partner countries share many challenges. Addressing them jointly promotes cooperation and the exchange of best practices.

Multilateral cooperation in the Eastern Partnership involves:

• strengthening institutions and good governance, including resilience to external factors
• developing market opportunities through economic integration and trade agreements
• ensuring energy security and improving energy and transport interconnections
• enhancing mobility and people-to-people contacts with visa dialogue negotiations

Bilateral cooperation

Association/partnership/cooperation agreements

The EU has put forward concrete ideas for each Eastern European partner country through a new generation of  agreements. These replaced the partnership and cooperation agreements concluded with the Eastern European partner countries in the late 1990s.

The EU has negotiated a series of agreements with EaP partners which provide for:

• enhanced political association
• increased political dialogue
• deeper cooperation on justice and security issues

The agreements are the basis for a programme of reforms that will bring the partner countries closer to the EU by aligning their legislation and standards with those of the EU. This will improve peoples' lives in a tangible way.

Free trade agreements

As part of the association agreements, the EU has concluded negotiations on deep and comprehensive free trade areas (DCFTA) with Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine to:

• improve access to goods and services
• reduce tariffs, quotas and barriers to trade
• ensure a stable legal environment
• align practices and norms

• EU trade agreements
• Trade negotiations and agreements (European Commission)

Visa dialogue

EaP partner countries have been among the first to benefit from mobility partnerships allowing their citizens to move around Europe in a secure environment.

Visa facilitation agreements promote the mobility of citizens of Eastern European partner countries and readmission agreements provide rules for managing the return of irregular migrants.

The EU is gradually working towards the long-term goal of visa-free travel for the citizens of certain EaP partners through visa liberalisation dialogues.

• EU visa policy

Bilateral agreements per type and per country

Involvement of broader society

The Eastern Partnership not only involves governments, it also considers the views of civil society, local and regional authorities, business leaders and parliamentary assemblies.

What are the objectives of the Eastern Partnership?

Building on the progress achieved during the first ten years of the EaP, the European Union has identified five long-term policy objectives:

resilient, sustainable and integrated economies

accountable institutions, rule of law and security

environmental and climate resilience

digital transformation

fair and inclusive societies

At the 2021 EaP summit, EU and EaP leaders committed to enhancing their cooperation on the basis of these priorities.

• Eastern Partnership summit, 15 December 2021
• The Eastern Partnership beyond 2020 (European External Action Service)

Investment plan

With the overall objective of strengthening resilience and generating concrete benefits for people, the new Eastern Partnership agenda will be structured around two pillars: investment (to be supported by a €2.3 billion economic and investment plan) and governance.

The pillars will be supported by the EU’s various tools and processes, including the Global Europe: Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI) instrument and the Team Europe initiatives, cross-border cooperation programmes and the partners’ own investments. 

Top ten targets for 2025

As part of the agenda, ten top investment targets for 2025 have been identified as future priority actions:

• competitive and innovative economies
• the rule of law
• sustainable and smart connectivity
• people and knowledge societies
• security and cyber resilience
• sustainable energy
• environment and climate
• health resilience
• inclusive, gender-equal and diverse societies, and strategic communication
• digital transformation 

The Council’s role

Negotiating international agreements with Eastern partners

The Council is involved at all stages of negotiating and adopting international agreements with the Eastern European partner countries.