EU policy

The European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) governs the EU’s relations with 16 of the EU’s closest Eastern and Southern neighbours.

Eastern Partnership

The Eastern Partnership (EaP) is a specific Eastern dimension to the ENP that was launched in 2009. The aim of the partnership is to strengthen and deepen the political and economic relations between the European Union, its Member States and six Eastern European and South Caucasus ‘partner countries’: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine. 

A new agenda beyond 2020

Over the years, the EaP has been instrumental in bringing the EU and its partner countries closer together. The EaP Summit of November 2017 marked a new approach with the adoption of the common reform agenda titled ‘20 Deliverables for 2020’. This ambitious work plan focused on delivering tangible results on the ground and improving the lives of people in four main policy areas: (1) stronger economy; (2) stronger governance; (3) stronger connectivity; and (4) stronger society – together with targets for the cross-cutting issues of gender, civil society, media and strategic communication.

Work on a successor agenda began in 2019 with a broad and inclusive consultation. The resulting Joint Communication: Eastern Partnership policy beyond 2020: Reinforcing Resilience – an Eastern Partnership that delivers for all  and Council Conclusions on the Eastern Partnership policy beyond 2020 set out a new agenda for the partnership around the following five long-term policy objectives:

• together for resilient, sustainable and integrated economies;
• together for accountable institutions, the rule of law and security;
• together towards environmental and climate resilience;
• together for a resilient digital transformation;
• together for resilient, fair and inclusive societies.

This new agenda, outlined in the Joint Staff Working Document: Recovery, Resilience and Reform: post-2020 Eastern Partnership priorities adopted in July 2021, was structured around two pillars: investment – to be supported by a €2.3 billion Economic and Investment plan in grants, blending and guarantees, with a potential to mobilise up to €17 billion in public and private investments. The plan contains a set of flagship initiatives for each of the partner countries and a governance pillar to underpin and sustain the investments and help consolidate resilient and fair societies that leave no-one behind.

As of 1 January 2025, a total amount of €14.5 billion has been mobilised through bilateral and regional grants, blending operations and guarantees. Funds mobilised provide support for public and private investments in the field of transport and energy, access to finance for micro, small and medium businesses, environmental resilience, the digital transformation, health and human capital.

Top ten targets for 2025

As part of the agenda, a selection of top ten targets for 2025 were identified as future priority actions:

1. Investing in competitive and innovative economies – 500,000 SMEs supported
2. Investing in the rule of law – All high level officials declare their economic assets and these declarations are verified
3. Investing in sustainable and smart connectivity – 3,000 km of priority roads and railways built or upgraded
4. Investing in people and knowledge societies – 70,000 individual mobility opportunities for students and staff, researchers, young people and youth workers
5. Investing in security and cyber resilience – A strengthened framework in place for identifying and addressing hybrid threats; strengthened partners’ capacities to increase cyber resilience and tackle cyber crime
6. Investing in sustainable energy – 250,000 households reduce energy consumption by at least 20%
7. Investing in environment & climate – Another 3 million people gain access to safe water services; air quality monitored and improved in 300 cities
8. Investing in health resilience – 850,000 health workers vaccinated and benefit from improved therapeutics, equipment and working conditions
9. Investing in inclusive, gender equal and diverse societies, and strategic communication – 2,500 local civil society organisations, 120 independent media outlets and 2,000 journalists supported
10. Investing in digital transformation – 80% of households have affordable access to high speed internet

Current priority areas of cooperation

2025-2027

The past few years have brought tremendous shocks and challenges to the EU’s Eastern neighbourhood. Ukraine has been at the forefront of Russia’s direct military and hybrid attacks, while the region has been enduring the impact of a fundamentally altered geopolitical reality. In this context, the flexibility of the Eastern Partnership policy framework has supported critical reforms, strengthening the resilience of institutions and societies, while supporting all stakeholders, beyond government-to-government relations.

All Eastern Partnership countries, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine and the civil society of Belarus, continue to benefit from the EaP policy framework, despite diverse paths and ambitions towards the EU. The EaP will keep supporting Ukraine and Moldova, as well as Georgia should the country revert to the EU path and adopt democratic, comprehensible and sustainable reforms.

Looking ahead, the EaP’s core principles of conditionality, inclusivity and differentiation, and a ‘more-for-more’ approach will remain. Democracy, human rights, fundamentals and the rule of law continue to be the cornerstone of the EaP policy. 

To respond to ongoing challenges, the EaP medium-term policy agenda has been adapted and reinforced in key target policy areas:

• Complementarity to the enlargement process, with the EaP supporting effectively Ukraine and Moldova, as well as Georgia should the country revert to the EU path and adopt democratic, comprehensible and sustainable reforms, in line with the core principles of European integration, on their paths towards the EU accession, while also continuing support to interested partners on reforms in line with EU standards, particularly in areas related to the rule of law and fundamental rights;
• A reinforced agenda of regional cooperation on security, democratic and societal resilience to help countering the increasing level of hybrid threats and disinformation in the region;
• Boosting socio-economic development, green transition and regional integration and connectivity to foster long term transformation should be at the core of the EU investments through the Global Gateway and the EaP Economic and Investment Plan
• Intensifying engagement with the youth and civil society, including human rights defenders in countries and in exile.

Enlargement

Three Eastern European partner countries (Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia) are currently in the EU accession process.

Accession to the EU is a merit-based process. To become a member state, each country needs to fulfil the same conditions and complete the same steps.

Ukraine applied for EU membership on 28 February 2022, followed on 3 March by Georgia and the Republic of Moldova.  In June 2022, the European Council granted Moldova and Ukraine candidate status, and recognised Georgia’s European perspective. The following December, the European Council decided to open full accession negotiations with Moldova and Ukraine, and granted candidate status to Georgia. In June 2024, however, the European Council found that the Georgian government’s course of action jeopardised the country’s EU path, leading to a halt of the accession process.

For more information

EaP: Council of the European Union

EaP:  European External Action Service

EaP: Directorate-General for Enlargement and Eastern Neighbourhood (DG ENEST)