The Heads of State or Government of the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine, the representatives of the European Union and the Heads of State or Government of its Member States met in Brussels on 15 December 2021. The President of the European Parliament and representatives of the Committee of the Regions, the European Economic and Social Committee, the European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Conference of Regional and Local Authorities of the Eastern Partnership and the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly also contributed to the Summit.

1. We have come together to reaffirm our strong commitment to our strategic, ambitious and forward-looking Eastern Partnership, which remains firmly based on common fundamental values, mutual interests and shared ownership, responsibility, inclusivity, differentiation and mutual accountability. As a specific dimension of the European Neighbourhood Policy, our partnership allows to bring the European Union and its Eastern European partners closer together. It seeks to foster stability, prosperity and mutual cooperation, and to advance our commitment to the necessary reforms and to address the global and regional challenges that we face for the benefit of all our citizens.

VALUES

2. We are bound by our joint determination to further strengthen democracy and the rule of law in our societies. The protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities, fostering inclusive societies, promoting gender equality as well as full respect for the principles and norms of international law remain the cornerstones of our partnership and underpin our joint work in all priority areas. The European Union remains committed in its support to the territorial integrity within their internationally recognised borders, independence, and sovereignty of all Eastern partners, with respect for and adherence to the purposes and principles enshrined in the UN Charter, the 1975 Helsinki Final Act and the 1990 Charter of Paris, which are fundamental to our shared vision for a peaceful and undivided Europe.

3. We reconfirm our commitments taken at previous Summits and in bilateral agreements as well as our determination to carry them forward. On this path, our ambitious reform agenda and enhanced cooperation remains the necessary condition for progress and support: increasing prosperity and fostering peace, stability, sustainability and resilience in the region, notably in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our cooperation and support will particularly aim at the delivery of key global policy objectives, including the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the UN 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals.

4. We remain deeply concerned about the continuous destabilisation and violations of the principles of international law in many parts of the Eastern Partnership region that pose a threat to peace, security and stability. We call for renewed efforts to promote the peaceful settlement of unresolved conflicts in the Eastern Partnership region based on the principles and norms of international law. The peaceful resolution of conflicts, building trust and good neighbourly relations are essential to economic and social development and cooperation. We welcome EU’s efforts, enhanced engagement and strengthened role in conflict prevention, conflict resolution, confidence building, in the framework or in support of existing agreed negotiating formats and processes, including through field presence, when appropriate.

5. The scope and depth of our cooperation are determined by our respective agreements and will continue to be shaped by the ambitions and needs of both the EU and the partners as well as by the pace and quality of reforms. We recognise that the EU’s conditionality and incentive-based approach (“more-for-more” and “less-for-less”) will continue to benefit those partners most engaged in implementing reforms.

6. We reaffirm the sovereign right of each partner to choose the level of ambition and the goals to which it aspires in its relations with the European Union. We stress that this is a constructive partnership, which is not directed against anyone, but is designed to contribute to peace and prosperity for all countries in the neighbourhood. The Eastern Partnership will remain inclusive and flexible, allowing common regional and global challenges to be tackled jointly in a wide range of areas, including through deeper sectoral cooperation and exchanges. We emphasise in this regard our particular objective to enhance and support regional cooperation in the Eastern Partnership region, including strengthening links and transport connectivity.

PARTNERSHIP

7. We commend the full entry into force of the Association Agreements (AAs) and Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Areas (DCFTAs) with Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine, the latter following the December 2016 decision by the EU Heads of State or Government.

8. In this context, we acknowledge the European aspirations and the European choice of the partners concerned, as stated in the Association Agreements. The agreements provide for accelerating political association and economic integration with the European Union. We welcome progress so far and encourage the full implementation of these Association Agreements and their Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Areas. We recall that the effective implementation of the Association Agreements and their DCFTAs, linked to the broader process of regulatory approximation and related necessary reforms, contributes to establishing the conditions for enhanced economic and trade relations with the EU leading towards further gradual economic integration in the European Union Internal Market, as envisaged in the Association Agreements. The EU remains committed to supporting the efforts of the associated partners in this regard.

9. The EU and interested partners commend the entry into force of the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement between the EU and Armenia in March 2021, welcome the progress so far and encourage its full implementation leading to a new level of partnership.

10. The EU and interested partners welcome progress in the ongoing negotiations between the EU and Azerbaijan on a new comprehensive Agreement.

11. The EU regrets the decision of the Belarusian authorities to suspend their participation in the Eastern Partnership and look forward to resuming cooperation with the Belarusian authorities as soon as necessary conditions for peaceful democratic transition are in place to build on a joint agenda based on common values and shared interests. In the meantime, the EU continues engagement with and support for the Belarus citizens, civil society and independent media. The comprehensive plan of economic support for a democratic Belarus, of up to EUR 3 billion, reflects the EU’s commitment to support the democratic choice of the Belarusian people. Reiterating previous statements, the EU condemns the instrumentalisation of migrants and refugees by the Belarusian authorities and indeed all incidents of instrumentalisation of migrants for political purposes.

12. In line with the principles of differentiation and inclusivity, the EU acknowledges the initiative of the trio of associated partners
Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine, to enhance the cooperation with the EU, and takes good note of the increased coordination amongst them on matters of common interest related to the implementation of the Association Agreements and DCFTAs, and on cooperation within the Eastern Partnership. In this context, building on the progress achieved so far, within joint discussions on association-related reforms in order to facilitate full implementation of the AAs/DCFTA, the EU and all interested partners will explore options for enhanced sectoral cooperation, including, but not limited to, the areas of the twin green and digital transitions, connectivity, energy security, justice and home affairs, strategic communication and healthcare. At the same time, the EU continues to stress the importance of the principle of inclusivity, providing equal access to opportunities and resources to all interested partners.

13. We remain open to examining the possibility of cooperation with third countries on a case-by-case basis on the basis of shared values, including in complementarity with other regional formats such as the Black Sea Synergy, where such participation would contribute and bring added value to the objectives of the Eastern Partnership.

RESILIENCE AND PROSPERITY

14. We will seek to enhance our cooperation including on the basis of the Joint Communication ‘Eastern Partnership policy beyond 2020: Reinforcing resilience – an Eastern partnership that delivers for all’1, and as a result of the comprehensive consultation with and contributions from Member States, Eastern partner countries and other Eastern Partnership stakeholders. Strengthening resilience remains our overriding policy objective under our agenda of ‘Recovery, Resilience and Reform’, structured around the two pillars of governance and investment. We welcome the set of concrete post-2020 priorities summarised in the Annex and highlight in particular the emphasis on generating concrete benefits for the people. The new agenda will be underpinned by the EUR 2.3 billion regional economic and investment plan with a potential to mobilise up to EUR 17 billion in public and private investments for the region, which underpins the future agenda. This multi-country and multi-sector investment plan is for the benefit of the Eastern Partnership region as a whole. Acknowledging the outstanding challenges, we underscore that sustained reform progress in partner countries, and its monitoring, in close coordination with EU Member States, in particular in the areas of common fundamental values and governance, rule of law, justice sector reform, fight against corruption remain key to reach the objectives of the Eastern Partnership and a successful implementation of its agenda, including the Economic and Investment Plan. The EU’s support will reflect its conditionality and incentive-based approach and will be conditional upon the implementation of agreed reforms. This will influence structural reforms, particularly in the rule of law and justice reform and anti-corruption.

15. In order to enhance resilience, we will focus on strengthening rule of law, establishing efficient, transparent and accountable public administration at all levels of government, tackling fraud, corruption and economic crime, combatting organised crime and strengthening security, as well as cyber resilience, including cyber and hybrid threats. We highlight the importance of enhancing, where appropriate, security dialogue and cooperation in the areas of CSDP, and welcome in this regard the partners’ valuable contribution to EU missions and operations and the EU’s support under the European Peace Facility (EPF). Gradual convergence in the area of foreign and security policy will be promoted, in line with partners’ commitments with the EU. We also reconfirm the importance of strengthening strategic communication for building resilience, including the fight against disinformation and information manipulation, and we call for stronger and more strategic approaches as well as enhanced cooperation between the EU and the Eastern partners. We underline the importance of a well-functioning media environment and freedom of speech, recognising the need for enhanced support to independent media. The partnership will work to strengthen the civil society enabling environment and youth participation, as stressed by the 5th Eastern Partnership Youth Forum in Slovenia in November 2021, education reform, strengthen independent media, enhance democracy, avoid inflammatory rhetoric and provocative actions, promote and mainstream gender equality, protect human rights, strengthen health resilience, and work to improve legal and labour mobility in line with national competences while jointly tackling irregular migration.

16. We will equally focus on strengthening economic resilience through fostering trade and economic integration, investment and access to finance, enhanced transport connectivity, and investing in people and knowledge societies. In this regard, the EU and interested partners welcome the recent signature of the common aviation area agreements with Armenia and Ukraine. The EU and interested partners also welcome the agreements with Armenia, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine for their association to Horizon Europe. The EU and interested partners welcome the completion of the Southern Gas Corridor project, which has contributed to the diversification of gas sources and routes of supply to the EU. As confirmed in the 3rd ministerial meeting on environment and climate change in Portugal in June 2021, we will work to enhance environmental and climate resilience by advancing green transition through investments and cooperation on circular economy, green growth and climate adaptation, and strengthening biodiversity.

The EU supports an intensification of the efforts by partner countries towards climate neutrality in 2050, by phasing out coal and making more ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions and we will jointly work towards accelerating their implementation in line with the commitments of COP26. We will also join forces in accelerating the process of energy transition to reduce the carbon footprint and further strengthen inclusive sustainable development in the energy sector in line with the European Energy Union strategy, as appropriate. We will step up our work to strengthen energy security under changing circumstances and prevent the use of gas as weapon or geopolitical lever. Nuclear safety will also be strengthened. We will accelerate the shift to sustainable and smart mobility. Furthermore, we will aim at accelerating the digital transformation including investments in digital infrastructure and e-governance. Building on the regional roaming agreement, we will explore further the possibility of a common international roaming space including the economically sustainable reduction of roaming tariffs between the EU and the Eastern partners.

SOLIDARITY

17. The climate crisis as well as environmental and energy challenges require urgent action from all sides. We recall that post COVID-19 socio-economic recovery and longer-term development provide an opportunity to strengthen resilience by investing in sustainable connectivity and accelerating green and digital transitions within a whole of economy approach, leaving no one behind. We commit to do so with a view to enhancing employability and creating decent job opportunities while pursuing a transition to climate neutral, circular and resource-efficient economies by 2050.

18. We stand together in solidarity in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, which represents an unprecedented challenge for our healthcare systems, economies and societies. Following the rapid Team Europe support package of over EUR 2.5 billion mobilised since 2020, we acknowledge continued commitment of the EU’s and its Member States to support partner countries in addressing the pandemic, the vaccination process, to fight against anti-vaccine disinformation and to foster longer term health resilience. We welcome that more than 13 million vaccine doses were donated to partner countries via the COVAX Facility and through the EU Vaccine Sharing mechanism, and we appreciate the additional EU support under the Team Europe initiative on COVID-19 vaccine sharing for the Eastern Partnership, which is expected to boost further deliveries in the coming months. We welcome mutual recognition of the COVID-19 digital certificates in place for Armenia, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine, and soon for Azerbaijan, allowing for safer and easier travel to and from the EU. We call for global solidarity, intensified international cooperation and effective multilateralism to contain, mitigate and overcome the pandemic and its consequences, which combined with the continuation of vaccination efforts, also through contributing to global vaccine equity and effective vaccine campaigns, are essential to defeat the virus.

JOINT OWNERSHIP

19. We call for strengthened joint ownership and reaffirm the importance of inclusive engagement of all parts of the society, highlighting the necessity of further engaging with civil society, in particular with the young people, and by promoting gender equality, tolerance and intercultural dialogue. Engagement with civil society, including through the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum, and broadened outreach and targeted support to grassroots civil society organisations and social partners, remains an integral part of this partnership. We confirm the importance of the multilateral dimension of the Eastern Partnership cooperation and call for further work to improve the current architecture in order to adjust to the new priorities and to make it more flexible and efficient. We welcome and wish to further encourage the role of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, the Conference of Regional and Local Authorities for the Eastern Partnership (CORLEAP) as well as of other key stakeholders including the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum and welcome a more systematic engagement with think tanks and European and International Financial Institutions.

20. We look forward to the next Eastern Partnership Summit in 2023, which will be the first milestone for the evaluation and review of the implementation of the new generation of priorities and targets.