 And we're delighted that you could join us for what I think will be an incredibly important discussion on an issue that unfortunately does not get as much attention as we'd like to see in Washington. And that is the upcoming November summit to be held in Vilnius on the eastern partnership countries. Now, as I'm reminded in just a little over three weeks, Lithuania, the government Lithuania will take over the rotating presidency of the EU council. With it comes an impressive agenda. But its focus and one of its highlights will be the eastern partnership summit. Now, thankfully for this conversation, I fear we have taken some of the foreign policy brain trust out of Vilnius and it has arrived here in Washington to be with us. We are delighted to welcome Benedictus Yotka, chairman of the Committee of Foreign Affairs of the Lithuanian Parliament. And he's been elected to parliament since November of 2012. Previously Professor Yotka worked as a rector of Vilnius University from 2002 to 2012 and previously was the pro rector for research at Vilnius University and has held very prestigious positions as president of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences from 1992 to 2003. And he is joined very ably by the deputy chairman and former foreign minister of Lithuania, Adronius Jubbalis, known to so many in this room, so almost difficult to introduce. But we are delighted minister that you are here. He has served as minister of foreign affairs of Lithuania between 2010 and 2012 and was a very visible presence during the Lithuanian chairman in office of the OSCE in 2011 and has held senior positions as a delegate to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and to other very prestigious positions. After the chairman and the deputy chairman are done giving their reflections on the Eastern Partnership Summit and the Lithuanian Presidency, we turn to our good friend Steve Nix at the International Republican Institute. Steve directs as the regional director for Eurasia. He is truly one of Washington's foremost experts on Eurasia, Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, the Kyrgyz Republic, Russia, and Ukraine where he focuses IRIs, activities. Many times we call upon Steve to just give us some reflections on what is going on in the region. So after Steve concludes, then we will open the floor for your comments and discussions. We are delighted to welcome many Excellencies, ambassadors of Montenegro. We are delighted that you are here, Ambassador Kaldigarai. Thank you so much and we have with us, as I said, I think we are emptying out the Baltics and the Parliament and we have the chairman of the Estonian Foreign Affairs Committee with us as well. So thank you all for being with us. To start, as I was reflecting on this afternoon's conversation, I thought five years from now, after we hold the Eastern Partnership Summit, will historians think that we got it right or that we didn't get it right? So with that reflection, Mr. Chairman, over to you. Thank you. As for my professor, usually I am teaching... You must stand. Oh, good. Good. Mrs. Cheperson, ladies and gentlemen, first of all, it's a great pleasure and honor for us together with my colleague to be here in Washington. Just thank you very much for a so nice introduction, but you know, you forgot to tell that I'm professor, not in political sciences. So I'm professor of biochemistry, so you can imagine. If you will decide to raise some complicated questions, please address to former minister of foreign affairs. So ladies and gentlemen, probably you know that this year for Lithuania especially, because just after two weeks, Lithuania will begin to cheer to European Union Council. Of course, it's great challenge, big challenge for Lithuania, Lithuania will cheer for the first time. Probably you know that each country in European Union, which is taking the presidency of European Union Council, among other problems, other things, have to choose some concrete priorities. So Lithuania government and our parliament was chosen for priorities, energy, security, you could imagine for Lithuania is very important priority, but not only for Lithuania, is Baltic Sea region strategy, boards protection board, and today we try to talk about one of the priorities which Lithuania choose this Eastern partnership. Ladies and gentlemen, of course you know that this European project was founded, started exactly four months ago, four years ago in 2009. So Eastern partnership project is European project is very important and what the purpose of this project European Union is thinking that's very important. You know very well, Eastern partners, there are six actually European countries, Ukraine, Moldova, Belarusia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia. Totally if you will take it, it's around 70 million population. So geographically it's really all these six Eastern partner countries, European countries, and of course European Union would like to have this European countries closer to European Union by values and other things. Of course it's not so easy to imagine that all these six Eastern European partners very soon will become members of European Union, but the idea to bring closer is very clear and it's very important because you know very well that we have some neighbors in Europe which are planning to create new Union, Euro Asian Union. You know very well that Russia, Kazakhstan, and Belarusia they are planning to establish I'm thinking as alternative Union to European Union, Euro Asian Union. Of course it's difficult to imagine this new European Asian Union to be very strong without for example Ukraine. So it's very important moment I think today to make as much as possible to bring closer really these six countries especially Ukraine closer to the European Union. I would like to remind and to mention that one of the top meetings during our presidency it will be Eastern Partnership Summit at the end of November. Lithuania as a country politicians are dreaming that during this Eastern Partnership Summit European Union would sign association agreement with Ukraine. It would be it would be top, it would be great accent for our presidents. The question was the problem the first logical question. Do Ukraine itself really wants to join European Union? Theoretically seems yes even sociological investigations show that it was strange for me that about 60% of people in Ukraine would like to see themselves in European Union. Some people we are talking okay it's not the case because when you take Eastern part of Ukraine it's not the case but even Eastern part of Ukraine is so people are thinking that it's good idea to go to European Union direction. So that people would like to join European Union it seems. But what are politicians very recently I think about two months ago President Yanukovych visited Lithuania and we had possibility to meet him in Parliament probably you know better than me that political decision also was very clear and this political decision to join to European Union is fixed in special law. So people would like to join European Union even special law so it's political decision. So what did the problem is why not to join why not to sign association agreement between European Union and Ukraine in this Eastern part with summit in Vilnius. Of course Lithuania the politicians from position and opposition we were traveling a lot to Brazil to Berlin to listen what are thinking about that European politicians. We met even European Union for example President Mr. Rompe we met three vice presidents of European Parliament we met very distinguished politicians from Germany and I was a little bit surprised that they are thinking that Ukraine is okay is not ready today for the signing the agreement between European Union and Ukraine but I asked to these politicians including President Rompe is it possible to make some compromise. If everybody understands that if not European Union it could be Euro Asian Union so we need I think in European Union to think about compromises we understand everybody it's not everything okay in Ukraine when we are talking about rule of law about democracy about corruption is it's okay these it's really these are serious problems but I was asking not so less problems have for example Serbia western Balkans why we are doing some compromises for them I think it's would be nice to make some compromises because association agreement just is the fast fast step after that it's a lot very big distance between signing the association agreement and becoming a real member of European Union we will have many many years maybe to educate it to influence to become more democratic country so my idea is that we have to keep very serious here this problem because in any case we will have new imperial Euro Asian imperial which will be extremely strong if Ukraine will join this new structure so I was asked to to talk about five minutes but just I will very shortly to talk about Belarus this is country which is among these six eastern partner countries but Belarus is among these three Russia Kazakhstan or Russia which are trying to create alternative so it seems that Russia theoretically one leg close to European Union the another leg close to your Asian Union how long it's possible to to keep two legs very big distance so it's real problem because Belarus is very far from democratic country and today we are not talking about Belarus as a real member of European Union so very much closer is Armenia Moldova and Georgia they are doing quite good exercises and I think these countries are a real potential members in the future members of European Union so ladies and gentlemen I will stop and thank you for your attention I should in some ways should do the same like like like my colleague because here on on Eastern partnership we have bipartisan agreement and we do not have differences and we do not see differences in our tactic even but I would like to say a few words about United States attention to this part of the world I think that this engagement which we see now at least I am seeing it's a very dangerous thing and it broke United States tradition to be engaged in Europe United States invested a lot in Europe United States invested a lot in East Europe and it paid off Visagrad countries Baltic countries now are free democratic countries comparatively well off countries members of NATO and EU and I would say partly it's because of United States engagement because of your active policy and now we reached the second stage in our region we have Eastern partnership and we have six countries they are so different and but if we want to get those people if we want to have Europe as it was once set whole and free we should fight for these countries and for these people and sometimes even we should make some even small compromises we do have values on other side has no and sometimes values could could be very good photographic regime because speculating the values you could you could kick out the countries from I would say pro-European pro-European cycle and I think that you will be much more stronger in Ukraine Georgia Belarus and Moldova if it's back walk early visibly and the very power instruments from United States and here I would like to say praise I would say some American NGOs who walks very actively in this part of the world and here we do have Stefan nicks from IRI this is a very effective organization which walks in the heart of Eastern partnership countries they have an office in Lithuania the same I could say about NDI the same I could say about net freedom house they are much more active than the United States administration itself and I would like to see that the highest United States leaders starting from president vice president Senate and House leaders would back the Eastern partnership process because it's a vitally important not just for our region not just for Europe but it's also in the long run for United States of America thank you Steve would you put him as well thank you I should say for the record lawyers also like to stand because they're accustomed to it so I feel more comfortable standing before you here today first of all thank you Heather thank you minister thank you chairman for putting this together and joining me today for a very important topic and I'd like to start any discussion of this part of the world in Lithuania I like to begin by first thanking the current government and previous governments of Lithuania for their assistance to IRI the minister is very kind in terms of his remarks about IRI really the thanks go to Lithuania IRI has operated its Belarus program out of Vilnius Lithuania for the past 10 years for over 10 years we are currently with the closure of our Moscow office running our Russia program out of Vilnius Lithuania this wouldn't be possible with the support and assistance of the current government and previous government so I start out by thanking Lithuanians for their friendship for their support and on behalf of our chairman senator McKay and IRI we want to thank you really for everything you've done to help us to try to be effective in the region I don't know who said it first a lot of people take credit for this remark but one ambassador said to me you know Vilnius Lithuania is like a fighter that punches three weight classes above its weight in terms of democracy building I think that's really the case because we're seeing Lithuanians NGOs government entities active in democracy building not just in the region but in Asia and in Africa and in the Middle East and we welcome this and we appreciate it so thank you gentlemen and it's a it's an honor for me to join the two of you today it's no wonder given what we have said today about Lithuania's track record that it not only chaired the OSCE under chairman Azubis but now is will soon assume the role of the EU presidency and that brings us to today's topic again this is a long-held effort to bring a certain designated class of countries closer to the European Union that's the stated goal it's gone in fits and starts I think everybody in this room will admit some have progressed faster more effectively than others I'll start with Ukraine because that seems to be the recipient of most of the of the attention regarding the events and illness I would start out by saying as as important as Ukraine is in terms of the region and its future direction I don't think that the ministerial in November should be judged a success or not based on whether there's an accession agreement signed certainly that would be great that would be terrific for Ukraine would be terrific for the EU but I don't think we can we can merely judge it to be a success only on that basis Moldova has made many strides there will be an important discussion about Moldova and I'll get to Moldova in a minute but but first Ukraine as the chairman pointed out public opinion has been mixed in Ukraine for a number of years we've done polling in Ukraine and have asked that very question of respondents should Ukraine be part of the European Union and as the chairman stated generally overwhelmingly 65 sometimes 70% stated that their country should be part of the European Union however once the customs union started to become a serious point of discussion then we started asking the question a different way in our surveys and that is given a choice would you like to see your country be part of the EU or the customs union and there the results are somewhat different frankly it's pretty much an even split 40 to 40 to 20 20% being undecided so with the advancement of this proact that that we see from Moscow there is a change in public opinion and as you can guess the respondents who advocate admission into the customs union are largely from the east the Donbass the Russian speaking era but that remains a pivotal point there's still some question in the minds of Ukrainian voters about the direction of their country I think what ultimately will decide Ukraine's future is the presidential election which is scheduled to take place in March 2015 and there the key is unity the numbers the polling data suggest that if the opposition presents a united front that is they rally and support a single unified candidate they have an opportunity to win this election and if they're successful in doing so several events will flow from that event Yulia Timoshenko will be freed from prison and this particular country will move closer to Europe by virtue of its policies its democratic development its institutional development it will naturally flow westward towards Europe so there's a lot at stake at this election and we'll have to see as as many of you know who follow Ukraine it's easy to say unity but unity is that elusive quality in Ukrainian politics that that they are seeking but the three main parties are working very well together working very closely on a number of issues in parliament so remains to be seen as we get into 2014 if that unity can be maintained Moldova again I think that it's fair to say that Moldova has been one of the bright lights in the region in terms of democratic development in terms of gravitation towards euro-atlantic structures and certainly Moldova should be an important part of the discussion in Vilnius I think you all know the current state of affairs there's been a new government formed it's a very fragile coalition three votes would decide whether or not the coalition remains intact because of this small margin we don't expect that the legislative or executive branches will undergo major transformations make big decisions in terms of policy between now and the summit I think the likelihood is that the government will play it safe knowing that regularly scheduled elections will take place next year the question is will that be good enough for continued advancement within the European Union I would suggest that it will be and so I'm very positive in terms of the discussions on Moldova in Vilnius on Belarus again the chairman noted the current situation whenever I explain Belarus to someone who's not fully acquainted with the set of facts there members of congress for example I always explain to them in this way I remind them of their first election to congress as a challenger and I say to them imagining running for congress for the first time you're the opposition you know you're the the first time challenger and in your campaign you have no access to tv no access to radio no access to print media and no access to direct mail and yet you're expected to get 50 plus one of the votes that's the challenge that one faces in running for public office in Belarus and then congressmen really seem to understand the the environment in which opposition parties work in Belarus again I don't expect anything to change appreciably in Belarus between now and the Vilnius summit what we're trying to help the opposition focus on is local elections which come next on the electoral calendar there and to not discuss presidential elections a lot of politicians are talking now and in Minsk about having presidential primaries a congress or some other mechanism to select a single unified candidate to face Lukashenko in the next presidential election we don't think it's the time for that we think the strategy should be for them to compete compete in in a very ambitious way to try to get people elected get people on the inside for the first time in local government in Belarus and then set the stage use those outposts of democracy and and rayon oblast and city governments and hopefully run a competitive campaign against Lukashenko knowing that the playing field is not going to be level just a couple of comments about Georgia we're asked all the time about Georgia it's difficult to predict a lot of things politically there obviously the new government is is trying to do its best I think that the question of cohabitation is one that's widely discussed I think will largely be solved very easily uh after the elections after the presidential elections I think a lot will become clear in terms of policy and governance because the constitutional amendments adopted a year and a half ago will take legal effect and as you all know that centers power primarily within the offices of the prime minister and within parliament so then it becomes a question of how does the georgia dream coalition caucus in parliament interact and work with the unm deputies in parliament and I think that's uh that's where we ought to focus a lot of attention and assistance to help them work together to produce legislatively in uh in Georgia and again depending on who wins the presidential election I think it largely solves the issue of cohabitation between the the president and prime minister not just because of who might win the election but the fact that again the presidency will operate from a perspective of reduced greatly reduced powers so then that will give the prime minister the chance to move forward on policy so again in summary in Georgia I think the case is a lot of things that we hope to see in Georgia are likely to take place after the constitutional amendments take take legal effect and that will be at about the time of the EU event in in Vilnius that's a very very brief summary of the countries and then I understand we'll have the chance to discuss and take any questions that you might have thank you very much for your attention well thanks many thanks to all three of our panelists quite a tour to force some of the key words that I picked up compromise us engagement values and I think these are important issues as we continue on our discussion I'd like to take the moderators prerogative and to use a baseball analogy throw out the first pitch but that's just to warm my other pitchers up here in the audience to get their questions and comments ready I'd just like to remind everyone this is an on-the-record discussion um Steve you you throw out a provocative thought that I'd like to tease out a little bit more is this summit a milestone and as I was preparing the invitation and a colleague received it he said oh you use the word roadmap I hate the word roadmap I said why and he goes because it's always a road to nowhere we never know where we're where we're going and and so what I'd like to to hear from all three of you you know is this summit one of those turnkey moments where some decisions are going to have to be made or is it simply another process issue that it's a it's an opportunity to raise the issues and move forward what's the worst thing outcome what's the most positive outcome of the summit and and I asked this leading question because I and I'm as a europe director I want to understand more europe's policies I really lost the clarity of thinking of europe's vision for the eastern partnership initiative it was boldly started poland in sweden a lot of leadership but as the european debt crisis has consumed europe's energies I can't quite find that articulated vision so I'd welcome your thoughts on that and and ways um mr minister you talked about us engagement how does the us engage with the summit this is a european issue we don't have a vote here how does the us engage so if that doesn't keep you busy for the next 10 minutes I can't help you so no thank you uh all right mr chairman you can take the soft ones I think you've deserved right the mr will mr minister will take the hard one just I may be very shortly you know this when we're talking about this european project eastern partnership the question is what is the future of this how to say project idea it's it's very good idea to to to bring closer countries from europe to to to european european universe so this is but question is I'm thinking myself so successful this eastern partnership summit or not successful from what what their criteria success or not success so one could say success if for example ukraine will sign an association agreement european unit it's already success i think but if it will not happen so it will be success or not success so I think it it depends on their politicians from european union very distinguished politicians who are thinking about that the next step so one group of politicians are talking if it will be not signed this agreement forget this european union project so eastern partnership project actually it would be just in on the paper so your this group politicians are thinking that this it will be stopped but I think it it's it it not because it has to be continuation so we have to be optimists so signing not signing you know but this is project which we have to continue to work with these countries to prove that you have to to to to to change your society everybody today understand in these countries that's something wrong inside and from my point of view no we will sign this agreement on the one side it's not the end of of the of the life it's it's my opinion and I think but you know I am very much surprised maybe I am wrong okay I am new politician but when we are talking with these distinguished person from Brazil always they are talking about mrs. Timoshenko you know if will ukraine young coach really release mrs. Timoshenko okay it it's clear your opinion will sign this agreement but from my point of view is it possible that one person from the one person depends on the future of the country I think it's it's not right if one person could regulate the future of of 60 million population country keeping in mind from my point but you mrs. Timoshenko is not angel so just I think that we will sign or not sign this project I think it's very important project we have to to to work further thank you the eastern partnership policy it's about the EU transformative power do we have this power or not could we serve EU as a good example on their own on the way of of democratic reforms to this country society this is a question and of course I could easily mention what we could expect from this summit but but but but we are not I'm not talking about summit itself I'm talking about process how we could keep this process alive how much money EU gives I mean help to helping I would say to those countries to transform society even now if we are talking let's say about the next mmf I mean it's a multi annual financial framework it's a budget seven years budget we know that it's already agreed that one third of this budget part which is goes to the european neighborhood policy goes to the east and two thirds goes to the south but now I would like to ask you what we are talking about when I'm talking about these countries to the east we are talking about european countries which are very important for us if we feel if you want to build the as I said united europe and of course it's very important the the countries from the north africa but in this case I see them as the european neighbors we also deserve our support we also deserve our deep look but at least I think that the at least the financial resources should be divided equally now you ask about how how does the United States could engage very simple these countries need an attention I would see that it would be very good if someone from the United States administration would visit these countries I couldn't remember the last visit of of any United States president let's say to Ukraine maybe it was I don't know you know it's a very simple it's a question it means the visit shows your interest or shows your position I would say so if no visits no position the same with the money I'm again talking about money but the money to NGOs who operates who works in this part of the world are essential because sometimes diplomats diplomats couldn't do what the NGOs could do first of all I was trying to remember I'm almost afraid to admit this but I I believe that the last US president to visit gave was was Bill Clinton I could be wrong but George Bush one okay thank you again I in terms of the ministerial and how it's judged how it's perceived there are plenty of events that took take place at the ministerial that would dictate success would connote success and again I don't think the succession treaty would crane should be the definitive issue of success for the bill in the summit it's certainly an important factor and it's important debate and there are persuasive arguments on both sides but again that is the European Union's decision I would say more if you look in terms of this summit you have to look to the founding language and if you look at the statements made by Carl Bilt and by Rodik Shikorsky when this effort was first outlined and formalized it was as the minister said about bringing these countries institutionally and from a values perspective closer to Europe and I would argue that several countries have done that and deserve some recognition at the summit I've mentioned a few of them in my remarks and I think that defines what success is and again that is consistent with what the goals were set forth at the outset of this effort. Thank you very much. Igor Muntar, Ambassador of Moldova, the United States. I have a couple of remarks to what our friend Stefan Unix just stated first of all I just wanted to tell you that we are very much missing your programs in Moldova unlike the countries that have requested you to leave the territories we never did and we really appreciated always your support to the political parties and to the political transformation of my country and in connection to the fragility of the government I just wanted to tell you that the new cabinet of ministers has been voted with 58 votes which means almost 60 percent of the members of the parliament and 153 signed personally the agreement of the coalition which is a little bit different equation the chemistry of the political coalitions always coalitions are fragile in our document of the coalition agreement is stated that no one no party will leave the coalition until the next elections which are scheduled for 2015 not for 2014 which means one and a half year it's quite a long period for the coalitions. Your Excellencies you have provided and shown your support to Ukraine and repeatedly your commitment are very strong but tomorrow we are launching the last round of negotiations on DCFTA and hopefully in a week or two we end up all the elements that are still missing Ukraine started with two years before Moldova the negotiations is there a fantasy or is it a possibility to see Moldovan Ukraine in the same twin of let's say promoting the idea of an association agreement since all technicalities are settled the government is stable is a pro-Europe coalition in place and we and you and other other friends have always encouraged Moldova to look forward not to look backward and this is not the exactly that Moldova will stay outside of the borders will be a kind of sanction or a penalty to the political parties it will be a penalty to the public which in our conditions is extremely important thank you thank you Bill Courtney I'm a retired diplomat I imagine you would expect that if the European Union does sign an association agreement there will be negative reactions from some quarters in the United States a number of non-governmental organizations that have been strongly supportive of Lithuania will be critical we have one man Ukrainian Americans in America many of them are disappointed with the Yanukovych presidency they don't all regard Mrs. Timoshenko as an angel but the issue is not just Mrs. Timoshenko it's heightened corruption criminality a real threat to the future of democracy that's taken place under the Yanukovych presidency in the context of a crackdown on human rights and political liberties in Russia that is probably a greater threat than what we're seeing in Ukraine signing an association agreement with Ukraine would undermine the European Union's moral authority in dealing with the problems in Russia and to the extent that Lithuania is seen in the leadership of this it would undermine Lithuania's moral authority among many people who are supporters of Lithuania Ambassador Steve Piper and Ambassador John Herbst two former U.S. ambassadors in Ukraine have written eloquent op-eds offering ways to proceed why does the European Union want to risk its reputation signing an association agreement when in fact the likelihood that Ukraine will go to the Euro-Asian Union is not very high I am Yaroslav Besyuk deputy chief of mission of Ukraine to the United States and I would like to begin first of all by thanking Mr. Chairman and Mr. Minister for and Lithuania for its support of Ukraine's integration into the European Union this is the most important strategic priority of Ukraine and it's supported by the Ukrainian population by civil society all political parties and the diaspora of Ukraine abroad which might be critical of the government but it doesn't question the Ukraine's course of becoming a part of Europe we see this course as our ability to modernize and become a more democratic more strong economically country and transition from post-Soviet to European state and we see this agreement as a vehicle to achieve those changes as a roadmap for these transformations we understand there's a lot of homework for us that needs to be done and we are doing it in good faith some things are more difficult than others but you know we're determined to meet the benchmarks set by the European Union to sign this agreement in Vilnius and I believe it will be a win-win situation for both sides because it's not a gift to Ukraine Ukraine will give its huge potential both human economic to the European Union so signing this agreement will be beneficial for both sides and like what was said it's not the end of the road but it's a step that will firmly set Ukraine on the tracks towards European integrations we appreciate the support and count on continuing of this thank you okay so we have important questions on Moldova and it's being in the same category with Ukraine for the summit European Union's moral authority and of course again the important strategic objective who would like to go first all right thank you about Moldova of course we support Moldova and I just went to apologize that we are talking here more about Ukraine rather than about Moldova but it's because in Moldova everything considerably after your moment crisis now goes well no problem there are a lot of problems but but I must say that what personally what I could expect I could expect that during Vilnius summit it will be association agreement would be with Moldova initial this is I think it's a realistic approach about Ukraine about undermined EU and Lithuanian moral authority possibly if association agreement agreement would be signed I don't think so we perfectly know the achievements and shortcomings in Ukraine on society in state institutions but to sign association agreement doesn't mean to ratify it and here the EU will have a very strong tool even more I would say that few weeks ago together with my party chairman Mr Kubilus from a prime minister we went to Kiev and we started we had about 14 meetings but purely before position we didn't have any meeting with the current government officials and we tried to clarify their position regarding association agreement and because our position was that the intentions natural intentions of opposition to beat the position couldn't be a case in this time for Ukraine because so much at stake and you know we were very happy but when we left Kiev after one day the free opposition leaders main from the main party signed the declaration regarding association agreement it means that the unfortunate and undemocratic case of mrs. Timoshenko wouldn't be used as a position tool to beat current government knowing that verification goes later that's why I think the EU if the association agreement would be signed the EU will not undermine its moral authority as well as a Lithuania that's it coming back to Moldova I think it's really is big progress and as I mentioned we are traveling in many countries the last country which I visited was Germany and because from Germany we got signal that this about Ukraine that politicians from Germany more or less are the most skeptics to sign association agreement so we met the advisor to chancellor Merkel the chairman committee for affairs of the Bundestag and and this it seems the German politicians are most skeptics concerning that then we are talking about Moldova why I'm talking no problems because they said that big progress even German politicians so what you made in Moldova so when I was talking no problems of course everywhere even USA has problems but coming back to this concrete citation I think of course it's impossible to dream to sign association agreement in Vilnius in Ukraine with European and Moldova even technically it's impossible but okay I I am feeling for sure that in Vilnius it will be done to start to Moldova for the association agreement for negotiations so I think Moldova is is close even in better situation than for example Armenia and especially Georgia so the answer is from my point of view it's quite positive and what happened during the last two weeks then when you established coalition new government I think it's it's it's very it's it's very positive signal for Vilnius Eastern partnership summit so coming back to this problems in Ukraine which you raised of course we know this you know that non-government organizations they are more or less oppressed maybe better than in Russia situation but it's real problems but but as as my colleague was talking association agreement is that the fast step there are so many intermediate steps which has to cross until become a real member of Europe Union is so many possibilities to to to how to say to educate to consultate for them and I think of course this is the selective justice people are talking about democracy is selective justice they are very happy that what Senka was released so it is good signal they're talking maybe the fast signal and they some of them they're waiting the second signal they're releasing of missus to Moshenko but you know from my point of view as I mentioned just like to repeat it's impossible that that that very nice politician a very nice lady even a beautiful lady okay maybe she is not very guilty but the future of the country it's you know it's difficult to to connect with the with the okay with the one person it's my private opinion but I just hear your permission I just want to say that let's take Burma it was the pressure and it was some steps from junta and now we see some some progress we are talking about in the same way now about Ukraine signing association agreement and long and very I would say supervised situation in in in Ukraine and long process of rectification because you could sign 10 association agreements but they will not be in power because of you know of the shortcomings in just a concrete example about what my colleague was talking just and we'll talk about Serbia. Lithuania is only one European European country which doesn't ratify association agreement okay stabilization or something okay more or as they say okay why Lithuania only one country which not crossed through the front because so just I like to provide example how it's possible to to how to say to educate a little bit politicians because some of our businessmen invested to Serbia for example they paid 50 million euros they built new factory and certainly at some time this factory was nationalized so country which would like to join European Union could you imagine state decided to to bring back the fact so this is international arbitrage now they are asking now Prime Minister from Serbia came you know please ratify ratify this agreement you're talking stop okay but so just example there are many possibilities after that to control to check what what is happening in this country which is dreaming to join European Union so this is extra example of a Serbia. I just real quickly thank you Ambassador Montiano for your remarks and yes it's true IRI has been asked on more than one occasion to leave a country by the host government we did not but not in Moldova you wanted us to stay we wanted us to stay it was an issue of our funder so if USAID invites us to return to Moldova I promise you we'll be back to do governance type programs and other programs that will that will help Moldova but to the point what I was trying to convey was the fact that I don't expect this new government this new coalition is new I don't expect drastic events to take place legislatively prior to the summit but I do think the Moldova continues and as I said previously free trade agreement with Moldova undoubtedly a huge success and that would certainly qualify to be a successful summit in Vilnius if things like that could could happen prior to ordering the course of the ministerial so thanks for your remarks. Rosetta, I read for Latvian and American dealer Drogas I have a couple questions first of all I heard a lot you mentioning Eurasia Eurasia so with the limit it's going to be European Union like Eurovision right now because then it's we have six countries another six countries so where do we stop so that's one of the questions the other thing you mentioned the compromises but on the other hand the Serbian example shows that compromises are not always working and they do agree with the retired diplomat which is mentioned that they think you're giving a price before the race so I do agree so I want to talk about do you think the Serbian example is that compromises are not working and is that really the position on Plataena or just you that you are for Eurasia? My name is Anandas I'm just a student let's see I have also a couple of questions two of them directed to our guests from Lithuania and one for Mr. Nix so first one we hear a lot about Eastern partnership initiative however in press and here we ended up talking only about Ukraine okay Belarus is a completely interesting and separate case it's more complicated just because of the political situation in our country but we have six countries in this Eastern partnership initiative and somehow we left a little bit aside my question would be about for example Armenia the association agreement with Armenia that would be very interesting in terms that it has its own conflicts especially with neighborhood countries and that conflict involves Russia as well which support one side unfortunately not Armenia so how this association agreement will impact EU relationship with Russia second question would be about Lithuania presidency Lithuania pointed out very four interesting let's say priorities however the presidency will be handled during the very interesting and tough times when we still have economic crisis and everybody is focusing about economic economy basically how Lithuania really going to push up these questions to a priorities on the EU president's list and the second and the third question is to Mr. Nix it's about Ukraine you mentioned very interesting word unity and you said if opposition will be able to be united and will come up with a very strong candidate it might succeed and it might change a cause of the country however I used to work a lot with Belarus Belarus and Ukraine in youth programs and that was the only problem why all the time during all elections opposition failed just because they couldn't find the disagreement who will be that one united strong candidate so what do you do and what kind of strategies do you have to unite that opposition how you're going to educate them to show their strength that being united in opposition you can really succeed and win the election thank you we address those and then I'll bundle up a couple of more regarding Eurasia and EU enlargement I do not afraid any European nation which has a strength and desire to implement reform democratic reforms that's for me the question about which country maybe it's on the edge of Asia on the edge of Europe for me it's not a question for me it's a question about the real intentions of of these country societies and political elite which way we are choosing democratic path or autocratic I do not afraid enlargement because Lithuania as well as Estonia Latvia and and Visegrad countries are best example that we could succeed in enlargement Serbia I would like to say that the question is not about about one another company is a question about the investment climate in this country which was by the way underlined in European Council conclusions when the heads of European states came and discussed this question as well and it was and it's underlined that the Serbia should take a lot of attention to invest to the investment climate it's not just about us about our company of course it we care but the question about about the as I said about very substantial thing in general the second about about Armenia I think Armenia did a marvelous job to be very frank I didn't expect because they really they negotiated very well they closed one chapter after another and the same like Moldova I would I would expect that in Birno summit the association agreement will be in shield initially sorry for one person pronunciation now about about how Lithuania because of economic crisis will will implement its priorities it's not our priorities actually it's a European priority it's because the the border security EU border security it's a common cause the energy security it's become a one of the topic maybe number one in European Union it's not our priority it's the same Spanish priority the same the same priority Malta because because of let's say of the sanctions against against Iran the Malta should transform their import policy oil policy from other countries and we sacrifice in this case a lot that's what I think the energy security it's a common common common issue the same with the eastern partnership it's a question about our European neighbors and it's also it's it's a matters I believe to all countries less or more that's what I think this is our priority the same like Vilnius summit it we do not own Vilnius summit Vilnius summit success or not will be the success of EU of whole EU that's it can I just follow up on impact on the EU Russian relationship as we had I mean the energy security issue is obviously a concern Russia has made great concern about the anti monopoly issues the third energy package this could be very confrontational potentially on the EU Russian for you know we we do have you has a post uh uh couldn't wait to sit us uh post to sit very much post negotiation agreement we we do have a our framework for for negotiations and you negotiating with Russia on energy on let's say these are free regime and on all matters we do have uh the mandate for negotiations which was given to commission by the member states and it's a quite a tough mandate I must say that's what of course the negotiations now goes very well because I would say in this case the commission EU commission stays very strong and firm and trying to implement the mandate of the member states the the second thing of course the Russia triangle so be present and influential and to remain influential in in all these eastern partnership countries just after we left the Kiev the huge delegation from the Russia Duma came and I would say booked almost whole hotel because they stayed and they discussed with their rather counterparts regarding the customs union that's what sure yes uh well as I said in my opening statement unity is the uh that elusive value in Ukraine certainly the case continues to be the case to some extent in Belarus if I could teach a class on unity and get everybody to do whatever I said we could win a lot of elections but that's not going to happen we can only help political parties become better organized provide training provide technical assistance to help them become more competent and run more effective campaigns the decision to unite or to run separately it's not my decision that's the political party's decision so what we can do is provide survey data that suggests that unity would be a key to victory in a particular election but we don't dictate that that's not our decision that's the political party's decision what we can do is if they ask our advice and counsel we can provide it but again the decision is theirs so we'll wait and see I can only tell you what the data suggests not what leaders will ultimately decide to do in either Ukraine or in Belarus a few more questions and mr chairman you can fire away what are we right right here and we'll get the two in the back my name is Archil Gekeshez I'm ambassador of Georgia thank you thank you rexcelsis for interesting remarks just uh to a little bit uh you know to make georgian voice heard in this call about it sorry okay sorry uh well uh georgia is also a committee to deliver for the villainous summit we will be also initiating the association agreement we are almost finalized the text and at the end of my very short brief remarks now say what is remained which is very important for georgia we do hope that the um that the legal scrubbing will not become an impediment to meeting the mutually agreed political goal within the EU and we would appreciate if uh EU starts internal legal procedures as soon as possible when when the document is initial we are ready to start negotiations on the association association agenda which will replace the EMP action plan and we would appreciate if we would get the first draft from the european union before villainous summit so that we are ready for the villainous summit with our own comments and even possibly the draft of the agenda georgia is committed to conclude the first legislative phase on the visa liberalization action plan and with the very high probability georgia will do that before villainous summit and we'll be ready for uh for going into the uh second phase yeah next point is that we hope that um well the harmonization and approximation introduction of the EU norms and standards is a very costly thing which also requires among apart from financial also the technical assistance and the know-how and the development and modernization of the existing institutions so in that regard we hope that the EU's assistance will be adequate to to our needs and that the EU uh you will with more competence will apply the principle more for more one of the EU's strength in the post-soviet space vis-à-vis russia it does have very too powerful uh leverages which is conditionality and differentiation but unfortunately EU was not always effective in using these two leverages and while russia russia has very powerful soft power in the post-soviet space which is open labor market EU really doesn't need very sophisticated policies in order to challenge russia in the post-soviet space uh well and the last point is that uh we are talking about how eastern partnership countries can deliver by or at the villainous summit and of course each of these countries uh model was was mentioned here ukraine georgia armenia um well these countries are doing their best to to be to be seen and to to deliver for the summit but uh but i think that this principle for more for more needs to be really applied for uh into these countries uh and the last point i mentioned which remains in in finalizing text of association agreement is we are debating with the negotiators from european commission whether or not to include in the final text of georgia that georgia is a european state so u bureaucrats are against this and uh so the the other other option was that include instead of state include european country but then this also was dropped and now we're talking about including eastern european country so when when pro reformist pro european forces in these six countries are not uh encouraged and supported and it is sometimes very difficult for for some of the retrograde i mean for difficult for these forces to promote costly sometimes unpopular decisions in these countries so opening up a european perspective would be very important because your country when among others did succeed in really jumping out from totalitarian system into european democracy in a in an unprecedented short period of time was one of the factors was that you did have membership card we do not have membership card as a prospect but nonetheless nonetheless we would try to move forward and with uh with this with this i mean sometimes tumbling in this process but still the trend is positive we try to move forward so the the sooner sooner this country's obtained european perspective the better chances that this this reforms will be faster more effective and we will more effectively challenge challenge a russian project in the post office space thank you mr. ambassador thank you so much i think we have time for this boy we have wow okay we'll take the two questions back there and then over here and then we will have our panelists say the final word thank you so much hi my name is mike scowland with the house foreign affairs committee um to go to making the illness uh summit a spectacular summit uh to follow up on the words of the german ambassador i recall when they had the civility uh association program summit in thessaloniki in 2003 it's remembered because it made it clear that the Balkans have a european perspective so that could be your headline but in that context i would also like to have a question about maldova i remember maldova was not seen as a possible candidate for asymmetrical trade because of transnistria but it got it then there was talk about how can you have maldova move down even in approximation with europe if you have the transnistria issues still open and now we're talking about initializing uh the aetc fta at what point does the transnistria become truly an anchor on maldova's ability if at least the views that you suggest that a european perspective is a given thank you hi ostipononis with the national public affairs council of the Lithuanian-american community um i was drawn to mr yotka's comment about the perspective of his colleagues in brussels and berlin that he encountered on his most recent trip you said that if there were some colleagues that expressed the opinion that if you did not get a association agreement with ukraine this time at this summit in Vilnius that one should the you should just forget the process that to in a essence to wash their hands of the process um if i understood your comments correctly what do you think they have in mind then um are they prepared just to allow countries to float off into the russian sphere of influence under Putin uh or is it just becomes a no man's land on the eastern frontier of europe well you seem like you're kind of lost and you're going around circles trying to figure out what to do and how to handle it all and you want somebody from higher up like in the presidential area to come down and help you and give you suggestions well john carrey is our secretary of state he works for obama and he works for everybody at united the congress and everything laswainia i don't know if they have a secretary of state in laswainia they should find one and go around to these countries six countries take notes have a meeting with each one get all the effects and everything gather it all up and go jump and go knock on john carrey's door thank you thank you he's a representative of united states thank you ask him how do you work your plan here for united states will also give you help thank you ma'am at that level we'll turn to our panelists now for a quick five minute last minute thoughts on several of those questions so maybe very shortly you mentioned about these pessimists about what i was talking about whom i was talking of course i don't know what they had in mind these pessimists who were talking that you know if it will be no results it could be dangerous for this european project so i don't know what they had in mind but just i wanted to tell to you that there are different opinions about the future of this from my point of view is very important project so just my short short ends very briefly regarding moldova i think the same with georgia if the countries lost territories which we are occupied by by bigger force it doesn't mean that they have no chance to go towards europe and to return back to europe and to become a member this is a really from the legal point of view from the sophisticated legal point of view of course you could say yeah this is an obstacle what to do if we are talking about this a fta does this fta will be applied in transnistria or not you know it's a but this is i think it's a it's a technicalities we first of all we should see the essence of of the whole process of the whole process of this country towards towards europe regarding georgia i just want to very friendly as a really true friend of georgia say what's going on in georgia it's it's not acceptable at least for my party i couldn't talk for for for my state but the last arrests doesn't convince me that the georgia current government acts wisely and the last answer to to the lady to the mem regarding regarding our minister yes we do have our minister of foreign affairs and and he visiting and visiting like i would say like like squirrel in the circle these countries with a huge team and we are working very hard thank you i'll just close by saying that there are a number of important policy discussions that will take place in bilness and number of decisions that will be made important decisions for the entire region and regardless of the outcome of what is decided or not decided in bilness i think it will only reflect favorably on the host the point thank you that's a very positive way to end it clearly i think this conversation needs to continue so we're at the beginning of the road for our roadmap please join me in thanking our distinguished panelists for their remarks have a great evening