EU denies: Belarus not included in Eastern Partnership Program

• 24.02.2009, 11:30

Representatives of the European Union denied the information spread by Belarusian and Russian information agencies on including Belarus into the Eastern Partnership Program.

“The European Union hasn’t taken a final decision on Belarus’s joining the Eastern Partnership project,” Jan Sliva, spokesman for the Czech presidency of the EU told BelaPAN.

He denied reports of RIA Novosti and BelaPAN informing that EU foreign ministers included Belarus in the eastern Partnership Program in Brussels on February 23.

The document on the results of the session of the EU foreign ministers, held on February 23, says that the ministers had just discussed “preparation for including” of the county into the Eastern Partnership project. It is expected that the new policy will be approved by EU heads of state in March. The founding summit of the “European partnership is to be held in Prague on May 7.

Six post-Soviet states – Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine – are invited to join the program. However, participation of Belarus is still open to question.