Sergei Lebedev: Participants of Eastern Partnership must choose between EU and CIS

Executive secretary of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Sergei Lebedev threatened the countries participating in the Eastern Partnership program may face problems.

As Lebedev said in Minsk, coordination of legislation with the EU standards demanded to review the CIS agreements, and the states would have to choose, BelaPAN reports.

“Being a person who knows the countries’ economy, I can say that the European Union cannot compensate for the losses the Eastern Partnership countries can face in the current situation,” Lebedev said. He thinks pitiful $600 million euros won’t help the participants of the EU’s initiative.

Lebedev hopes participation of six CIS countries (including Georgia) in the EU’s project won’t affect their activity within CIS and they will stay in the organization.

The CIS executive secretary noted participation of six states in the Eastern Partnership program aroused “controversial reaction” both in the countries participants and in those that were not included in the initiative. In particular, he quoted former Moldavian president Vladimir Voronin, who said this project was aimed at creating a “circle round Russia”. Lebedev repeated words by EU commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner and other EU officials stating the European Partnership program was not directed against Russia.