The countries of the “Associated Trio” in the framework of the Eastern Partnership — Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia — for the first time agreed to cooperate on the path to EU membership. This is stated in a joint declaration signed by the leaders of the three countries, agreed on Wednesday in Brussels.
The Presidents of Ukraine and Moldova, as well as the Prime Minister of Georgia, agreed on the need to
“enhance cooperation of the Association Trio with the EU aiming at increased coordination among them on matters of common interest related to advancing the European Integration, including recognition of the European perspective of the Association Trio by the EU.”
So far, there has been no such mechanism, not least because of Chisinau’s reluctance to raise the EU’s sensitive issue of membership prospects.
However, in this document, Moldova also agreed to jointly demand this from Brussels.
“We reiterated our determination backed by the strong will of our peoples to work towards joining the European Union. In this respect, we call on the European Union to support the sovereign choice of our states together with all the relevant steps taken by us vis-a-vis European integration and acknowledge the European perspective of Georgia, Republic of Moldova and Ukraine,” the document reads.
Earlier, Vladimir Zelensky said in Brussels that the “Associated Trio” should be in the new wave of EU enlargement. Minister Dmytro Kuleba stressed that a quarter of EU countries officially support Ukraine’s accession to the European Union, European Pravda reported.
The six Eastern Partnership countries — Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbajan, and Belarus started out with similar intentions of Eurointegration, but with time, their paths diverged. Currently, Belarus has suspended cooperation with Brussels altogether; Armenia and Azerbaijan exclude the signing of Association Agreements and do not cooperate with each other.
In May 2021, Georgia, Ukraine, and Moldova set up a new format of their collaboration called the Association Trio. That is, Chișinău, Tbilisi, and Kyiv will coordinate their activities to join the next wave of EU expansion. They will work together on the way to membership in the European Union based on their Association Agreements.
However, so far, the European Union has been reluctant to more clearly separate the “associated trio” into a separate format. European Pravda reported this, citing several high-ranking EU officials involved in the summit, who spoke on condition of anonymity with reporters in Brussels.
Brussels believes this will be beneficial for Kyiv. “It is in the interest of all six countries to keep the group together. In addition, it is in the interest of Ukraine, which is the leader of the trio, to maintain leadership in a broader format,” said one European Commission official.
Read more about the Association Trio:
How the alliance of Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova may change the geopolitics of Europe
