Time for Action – Eastern Partnership of European Neighbourhood Policy

Polish Institute of International Affairs

Conference
Time For Action – Eastern Partnership Of European Neighbourhood Policy
21st April 2009 (Tuesday)

Venue: Residence Palace, Polak Room
Rue de la Loi 155, Brussels, Belgium

In May 2008 Poland and Sweden together presented a joint proposal for "Eastern Partnership" between the EU and its neighbours. The conference was intended to tackle the issue of Eastern Partnership in the run-up to important decisions on its future and to discuss about the possible options for its implementation and development.

Eastern Partnership is essentially a plan of cooperation between the EU and those Eastern European countries that are most advanced in implementing the European Neighbourhood Policy. It could allow for those countries' gradual inclusion into the EU policies and programs along with their gradual integration with the EU common market. Within this framework, cooperation with Ukraine as the country that seems to be best prepared for an advanced relationship with the EU will be discussed. The project is open to other countries that may join when willing and ready. The options and ideas discussed during the conference should contribute to practical enhancement of the project.

The panelists and discussants of the conference include EU member states officials and policy analysts from Poland, Czech Republic, Sweden, Germany, Ukraine and Belarus.

Conference agenda

09.30–10.00  Registration

10.00–10.30

Keynote speech: Krzysztof Lisek, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Sejm of Poland

10.40–13.00

Panel I: The Possibilities and Constraints of the Eastern Partnership

Moderator: Jiří Schneider, Program Director, Prague Security Studies Institute

• Libor Sečka, Director - General for the EU Affairs of the Czech MFA
  Coordination of EU activities in the Eastern Partnership countries

• Robert Sołtyk, Policy Officer, DG RELEX, European Commission
  Eastern Partnership - Eastern Dimension of the European Neighbourhood Policy

• Andrzej Cieszkowski, Plenipotentiary of Foreign Minister of Poland for Eastern Partnership
  Eastern Partnership – a tool for engaging neighbours?  

• Ernest Wyciszkiewicz, Energy Security Programme Coordinator, Polish Institute of International Affairs
  Horizontal problem of energy

Discussant: Cornelius Ochmann, Bertelsmann Foundation

Discussant: Piotr Maciej Kaczyński, Research Fellow, Centre for European Policy Studies

Discussion

13.00–14.00  Lunch

14.00–16.00

Panel II: Possible Activity and Programming of the Eastern Partnership

Moderator: Sławomir Dębski, Director, Polish Institute of International Affairs

• Hans-Georg Wieck, former German diplomat, Head of the OSCE Advisory and Monitoring Group in Belarus
  Case of Belarus?
• Johanna Popjanevski, Deputy Director, Central Asia -  Caucasus Institute
  Case of Georgia – building links

Discussant: Vladimir Ulakhovich, Director, Center for International Studies, Minsk

Discussant: Oleksandr Sushko, Director, Center for Peace, Conversion and Foreign Policy of Ukraine, Kiev

Discussion

16.00 – 16.15  Conclusions