Czech foreign minister advocates EU’s EPP

During talks in Berlin on Wednesday, Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg stressed the importance of the EU’s Eastern Partnership Programme to be launched in May. Addressing members of the Bundestag’s Foreign Relations Committee Mr. Schwarzenberg said it was important that the EU establish a working relationship with the former Soviet Republics in order to motivate them on the road to democracy. The Eastern Partnership Programme is a forum intended to facilitate visa agreements, free trade deals and strategic partnership agreements with a number of countries from Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus. It does not imply future membership of the European Union. The partnership scheme will include Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine and Belarus.