The European Union would not be willing any time soon to accept into its ranks the six former Soviet countries that the 27- member bloc hopes to bring closer through its Eastern Partnership initiative, an EU official said. “Let’s understand that the European Union is not ready to accept a single one of those six countries into its ranks,” said outgoing Czech Vice- Premier for European Affairs Alexandr Vondra, whose country chairs the EU until June 30.
Vondra told a news conference that none of the six countries - Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine - was “ready for membership in the European Union.” That came ahead of violence in Moldova in which protesters tried to bring down the government after elections which elected a strong bloc of Communists, and the government blamed neighbouring Romania for sparking the trouble.

Vondra added that the scheme was designed “to bridge the period between today and the distant future” that could perhaps see membership talks begin. EU leaders, at their latest top-level meeting, approved a plan to offer aid and partnership deals to the six countries at an upcoming meeting with the leaders of those countries, perhaps including Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, who often is called by the EU as “the last dictator in Europe.”
His critics blasted the EU for even considering inviting him to a meeting in Prague on May 7, saying he was being emboldened by countless EU leniency toward his government, which has imprisoned dissidents and where protesters are routinely beaten by police. Vondra said that the EU plans to make a decision on inviting Lukashenko, who holds a tight grip on his country, at the last minute.

The partnership scheme, which does not offer full EU membership to the six, would boost ties with countries like Armenia but raises worries that it could further delay membership for a country such as Ukraine. The initiative was proposed by Sweden and Poland as an Eastern counter-weight to the French-backed scheme to reinforce the EU’s ties in the Mediterranean. The policy, also seen as an EU bid to curb Moscow’s influence in its own neighbourhood, gained further ground after the Russian invasion of Georgia in August 2008.