What is your opinion about the emerging alliance of so-called Democratic countries within the framework of CIS and Baltic States ? Is the EU wary of this possible Alliance entered into by Kiev and Tbilisi and presented like a challenge to Moscow ?

We of course welcome closer co-operation between Georgia and Ukraine in the same way that we welcome close co-operation between Kiev and Moscow and Tbilisi and Moscow, as well as with our new EU Member States. There are no doubt many issues to discuss and experiences to share between these countries, who stand or have stood before many similar reform challenges. We see no reason why close co-operation with one country should be at the expense of close co-operation with other countries. In fact, we all need to work together to face the challenges of today, whether in the fight against terrorism and organised crime or in solving conflicts and problems such as illegal immigration.


EU/Russia relations seem to have never been so intensive as they are now. What are the prospects for the latest trends in Moscow/Brussels cooperation?

I see the latest trends as very positive. Our discussions are relaxed and at the same time frank and open. We discuss sensitive issues in a direct and honest manner, as we both realise that we need to work together to face up to common threats such as terrorism, organised crime and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Our challenge now is to turn this good atmosphere into practical progress for our peoples. I am very pleased therefore that we managed to agree at the summit in London on a package of visa facilitation and readmission agreements, which will soon make it easier for our citizens to travel and for us both to fight illegal immigration effectively.


With Ukraine, the EU is now implementing an Action Plan as part of the European Neighbourhood Policy. With Georgia, an Action Plan is its way to being developed. There have been criticisms of the New Neighborhood Policy intended to appease the hopes of Europe’s new neighbors while definitively placing them beyond European frontiers. Do you agree?

The European Neighbourhood Policy is not a policy aimed at EU enlargement; it neither foresees it nor excludes it. The policy is in the first place aimed at developing closer relations between the European Union and its new neighbours to the East and the South, making them benefit as much as possible from their proximity to the EU. There is so much work to be done and there are so many opportunities to co-operate more effectively in the fields of trade, reforms, in fighting terrorism, crime and corruption, in working more closely together in foreign and security policy that there is no real reason at this stage to think about what might happen in the longer term.