Miroslav Lajcak, the Minister of Foreign Affairs stated that, “Each country associated in the Eastern Partnership has a sovereign right to decide as to which geo-political sphere it wishes to be part of”. This was said during a meeting on Thursday with his Ukrainian counterpart Leonid Kozhara in Bratislava.
Lajčák was speaking of Armenia's decision to join a Russia-led customs union, while EU representatives have criticised Moscow for what they see as Russia pressuring former Soviet countries away from developing trade links with the EU. Lajčák supported the view expressed by European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Fule. “Signing one agreement precludes a country from signing the other one. It doesn't mean, though, that Armenia is excluded from the Eastern Partnership or that our relations will turn from friendly to unfriendly. At any rate, we realise that the ultimate goal that lay in Armenia's signing of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement is no longer valid for Armenia, in other words cooperation will be halted at a lower level,” said Lajčák. He stressed that the EU isn't blackmailing any country. Instead, the bloc offers a long-term stable perspective – albeit, an initially painful one. “There are so called frozen conflicts in four of the six countries of the Eastern Partnership, and Russia plays a significant role in them,” said Lajčák, noting that Russia has strong tools for impacting the economic lives of these countries.
