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Note to the West: Help Georgia and Moldova as well as Ukraine by Ian Bond, 21 April 2023 Georgia and Moldova face different problems, but both are vulnerable to Russian influence. While Putin is tied up in Ukraine, the West has an opportunity to weaken his position in Georgia and Moldova. Last year the EU opened the door a crack to Ukraine and Moldova eventually joining the Union, with Georgia half a step behind them. The EU and the West must now help them deal with the obstacles to their further progress. The first priority must be to help Ukraine drive Russia out of occupied Ukrainian territory. But Moscow has also occupied parts of Georgia and Moldova for more than 30 years, and continues to hinder their economic and political progress. It is in the West’s interest for them, as well as Ukraine, to become stable and prosperous members of the EU and potentially NATO. That will mean reducing Russia’s leverage in both countries, and helping to increase their resilience to Moscow’s influence. EU membership has long been on the agenda of Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, though not on the EU’s. In 2014, following Russia’s annexation of Crimea and its intervention in eastern Ukraine, all three signed association agreements with the Union, including deep and comprehensive free trade agreements (DCFTAs). But all three countries had a long list of ‘homework’ to do in order to align their legal systems and trade, labour and environmental rules and regulations with those of the EU, in order to get the full benefit of their DCFTAs – with no promise that alignment would ever lead to EU membership. In May 2021, the foreign ministers of Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine agreed to form the ‘Associated Trio’, a group to work together on closer integration with the Union, including through joint meetings with the EU. Russia’s 2022 attack on Ukraine short-circuited this process of gradual convergence, prompting all three countries to submit formal applications to join the EU. In June 2022, the European Council decided to give Ukraine and Moldova candidate status. It also agreed to give Georgia potential candidate status, while listing 12 areas, mainly relating to good governance and the rule of law, that needed improvement in order to obtain that status. Just before she took office as Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen spoke of building a “geopolitical commission”. By deciding to remove the three countries from the post-Soviet grey zone CER INSIGHT: NOTE TO THE WEST: HELP GEORGIA AND MOLDOVA AS WELL AS UKRAINE 21 April 2023
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