Estonian Center of Eastern Partnership: Training and Research Hub

Eastern Partnership (EaP)

Launched in 2009 within the EU’s broader European Neighborhood Policy, the Eastern Partnership is a joint initiative of the EU, its member states, and the following six partner countries in Eastern Europe: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine. While the program has no separate secretariat or staff of its own, its work is coordinated by the European Commission via its Directorate-General for Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR). The Eastern Partnership enables the partner countries to broaden and strengthen their political, economic, and cultural relations with the European Union. The EaP is firmly anchored in support and respect for shared values, from the concepts of democracy and sovereignty as enshrined in international law, to fundamental human rights and basic freedoms. For Estonia, the EaP countries are not only of critical importance politically and serious partners economically, but are also an essential priority of its development policy as 4 from 5 priority countries are EaP countries.

Key moments in EaP History

• 2004: The European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) is created
• 2009: The Eastern Partnership program is officially launched at the Prague Summit
• 2013: Vilnius EaP Summit held, association agreements with Georgia and Moldova initialed
• 2014: Moldovan citizens receive visa-free access to the EU
• 2015: Riga EaP Summit held
• 2017: Georgian and Ukrainian citizens receive visa-free access to the EU; EaP Summit held in November under the auspices of Estonia’s presidency of the Council of the European Union, it adopted 20 Deliverables for 2020 document.
• 2018: An internal monitoring was carried out by the European Commission and the EEAS to review the progress achieved under the 20 Deliverables for 2020
• 2019: European Commission and EEAS held structured consultations about the future of the Eastern Partnership
• 2020: Next Eastern Partnership Summit is expected during the Croatian EU Presidency

Bilateral relations

The European Union has pursued bilateral relations with each Eastern Partnership country on an independent basis, thereby providing a means for those states more eager to pursue deeper political and economic integration with the EU to do so. A new generation of association agreements have been concluded, including the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreements individually reached with Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine. The implementation of these agreements will be an ongoing challenge of critical importance in the years to come. Meanwhile, negotiations with a new Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement with Armenia was signed on 24 November 2017 in the margins of the Eastern Partnership Summit in Brussels and entered into provisional application on 1 June 2018. Negotiations continue on a new agreement with Azerbaijan from 2017, in 2018 the EU and Azerbaijan agreed on their new partnership priorities. The bilateral relationship with Belarus will be strengthened through the EU-Belarus Partnership Priorities, which are currently being negotiated.

One of the most important areas of bilateral cooperation is visa facilitation and liberalization. Moldovans gained the ability to travel to the EU without visas in 2014, with liberalization entering into force for Georgians and Ukrainians in March and June of 2017 respectively. Visa facilitation agreements, meanwhile, already exist with Armenia (2014) and Azerbaijan (2014). Negotiations on a Visa Facilitation and Readmission agreements with Belarus were finalised and sides have agreed to sign the Agreements somewhere in January 2020.

Vision and Goals

The Estonian Center of Eastern Partnership is a training and research center focusing on the six countries of the EU’s Eastern Partnership (EaP). Through its activities ECEAP aims to develop relations with the EaP countries while contributing to the advancement of the overall goals of the EU’s policy in the region. The Center’s bilateral cooperation with partner countries is bolstered by multilateral activities carried out within the fields of public administration reform and the harmonization of digital markets, for example.

History

1. 2011: The Estonian Center of Eastern Partnership is founded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in cooperation with the Estonian School of Diplomacy
2. 2015: ECEAP becomes an independent non-profit foundation
3. 2016: ECEAP expands by adding several new staff members
4. 2017: The Center’s new office opens in the Solaris Center in Tallinn
5. 2018: On November 2018 Bureau Veritas awarded ECEAP with the Quality Management Standard ISO 9001:2015 certification.

Since its founding, ECEAP has:

• Trained over 1,500 government officials and experts from partner countries
• Organized over 170 study visits and training programs
• Released over 40 major research publications along with many more shorter articles, op-eds, and other commentary in print/broadcast media both in Estonia and abroad
• Held six annual conferences devoted to the Eastern Partnership, along with dozens of smaller scale events on both the ministerial and expert level

Certification

On November 2018 Bureau Veritas certified ECEAP to the Quality Management Standard ISO 9001:2015.

The certificate of the standard confirms that ECEAP’s project management and training services are in compliance with the requirements of Quality Management Standard ISO 9001:2015. The standards provide guidance and tools for companies and organizations who want to ensure that their products and services consistently meet clients’ requirements, and that the quality is consistently improved. This standard is based on a number of quality management principles including a strong client focus, the motivation and implication of top management, the process approach and continual improvement.