Based on a shared community of values and a joint commitment to international law and fundamental values, and based on the principles upon which the EU was founded, notably those of peace, friendship, solidarity, responsibility, prosperity, freedom, democracy, non-discrimination of persons belonging to minorities, respect for diversity, rule of law and human dignity,

the EPP EU and EaP leaders met in Brussels on 23 November 2017 and agreed on the following statement:

Achievements and ambitions

We underline that through better-developed, individual engagement for each country, the reinforcement of European security, stability and prosperity must be sought, as well as the consolidation of European values and principles in the region; we need to further enrich EaP in line with the principles of differentiation, strict conditionality, joint ownership, joint responsibility and solidarity, “more for more” and “less for less”.

We welcome the entry into force of the Association Agreements including a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area with Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine; the signing of the new Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement between the European Union and Armenia; the ongoing negotiations between the European Union and Azerbaijan for a new framework agreement; and the creation of the EU-Belarus Coordination Group and the Human Rights Dialogue. We underline that the rule of law, democratisation and reforms should remain a key precondition for the EU’s deeper engagement with all EaP partners.

We propose to initiate a dialogue format for EU-Belarus relations with the participation of representatives from democratic organisations and the political opposition in Belarus. The introduction of a moratorium on the death penalty, ending the persecution of journalists, the freeing of political prisoners, the registration of public associations and political parties, the reform of the judicial system, the holding of free and fair elections and the admission of the opposition to state media: all these would be important elements for the development of further cooperation with official Belarus.

We welcome the establishment, and effective implementation, of visa free regimes with Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine, and we support the continued implementation of the Visa Liberalisation Action Plans to improve people-to-people contacts — notably through strengthened and close cooperation, in particular in the areas of police and customs — to safeguard against security threats and migration risks. We support the launching of a visa liberalisation dialogue with Armenia.

We acknowledge the European aspirations and European choice of the partners concerned, as stated in the Association Agreements.

We stress that a European perspective constitutes a driving force for reforms and further strengthens their commitment to shared values and principles, such as democracy, the rule of law, the fight against corruption, strong and independent justice systems, respect for human rights and good governance. The depth and scope of relations with each partner country should reflect that country’s own European integration ambition, its commitment to shared values and its progress in reforms, based on EU legislation with each country, being assessed on its own merits and on the basis of clear benchmarks.

We support closer cooperation with the associated countries (the ‘EaP+’ model), which have made substantial progress in implementing AA/DCFTA-related reforms, that could eventually lead to countries’ joining the customs union, Energy Union and Digital Single Market, or to their benefiting from further EU internal market access, greater integration into EU transport networks, industrial partnerships, increased participation in other EU programmes and agencies or further cooperation in the field of the CSDP; we support in this regard more immediate measures, such as additional unilateral tariff preferences, the reduction of roaming tariffs between partners and the EU and the development of high-capacity broadband. Finally, we state that the ‘EaP+’ model should be open to other Eastern Partnership countries once they are ready for such enhanced commitments and have made significant progress towards implementing mutually agreed reforms.

Security cooperation

We reiterate the EU’s and its Member States’ firm support for the principle of territorial integrity within internationally recognised borders and a commitment to peaceful conflict resolution.

We underline full respect for, and adherence to, the principles and commitments enshrined in the UN Charter, the 1975 Helsinki Final Act and the 1990 OSCE Charter of Paris are fundamental to our shared vision for a peaceful and undivided Europe, that was undermined by Russia as a result of its ongoing aggression towards Ukraine, the illegal annexation of the Crimean peninsula and the continued occupation of two Georgian regions, as well as Russian hybrid threats, disinformation, including destabilising activities and propaganda which threaten European security as a whole. We strongly support a strengthened EU and international engagement in the peaceful settlement of the situation in Donbas, launch of an appropriately mandated UN peacekeeping operation on the whole territory of Donbas, and re-establishing the full sovereignty of Ukraine in Crimea, of Georgia in its occupied territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and of Moldova in Transnistria. We are alarmed at the continuous violation of human rights in Transnistria and urge all sides to make efforts to alleviate the situation.

We call on Russia to free and release without further delay all illegally detained Ukrainian citizens, both in Russia and in the illegally occupied territories of Ukraine.

We welcome the unity of action among EU Member States towards Russia — whose military presence in the region has nevertheless grown in recent years, in particular through strengthened, and targeted, restrictive measures — with a view towards settling the conflict in Donbas through full and genuine implementation of the Minsk agreements. We call on Member States to consider strengthening individual restrictive measures with regard to those responsible for to the severe deterioration in the protection of human rights in the occupied territory of Crimea. We regret that Russia is refusing to fully implement the Six-Point Seize-Fire Agreement between Russia and Georgia, negotiated by the EU presidency in 2008. We support the EU’s active involvement as a co-chair in Geneva International Discussions addressing the consequences of the 2008 conflict.

We reaffirm our full support for the efforts of the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group regarding the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, based on the norms and principles of international law, in particular those concerning the non-use of force or threat of force, territorial integrity and the equal rights and self-determination of peoples; we call on all sides of the conflict to adhere to the ceasefire regime with full respect to the 1994-1995 ceasefire agreements, to implement confidence-building measures and to reduce tensions on the Line of Contact, including those measures agreed to during the Summits in Vienna, St. Petersburg and Geneva.

We support the need of more strengthened role for the EU in solving the conflicts in the Eastern Neighborhood, including the actions aimed at enhancing security and stability, supporting partners in strengthening their resilience, fighting cyber warfare, disinformation and other types of destabilization.