The Associated Trio and Romania: in Search of Cooperation Dimensions

Although, each of the partners has elaborated its own implementation plan in terms of commitments and timeline, more or less similar structure of the Association agreements, has prompted launching of the informal coalition of so-called Trio in communication with the EU institutions.

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Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia represent a more advanced track of cooperation with the EU within the Eastern Partnership policy. Having signed the Association agreement (AA) bilaterally with the European Union, these three partner states embraced the reforms track and rapprochement with the European norm and standards. Although, each of the partners has elaborated its own implementation plan in terms of commitments and timeline, more or less similar structure of the Association agreements, has prompted launching of the informal coalition of so-called Trio in communication with the EU institutions. The main message is that these countries deserve a more profound cooperation and membership perspective due to the advanced level of the commitments taken by three partners in domain comprehensive administrative and economic reforms, covered by the political association and economic integration. One of the first attempts to solidify a joint position was demonstrated at the EaP Summit back in 2017. Although the result of this trilateral lobbying was uncertain, some of the initiatives were included in the EaP Declaration, namely, joint consultations with the EU institutions on the issues, related to the AA implementation.

Hennadiy Maksak Policy Brief

Hennadiy Maksak is the Foreign Policy Council “Ukrainian Prism” Executive Director. Studied economics (Chernihiv state institute for economics and management), political sciences (Warsaw University, Center for East European Studies). In 2006-2015 he was the president of the Polissya Foundation for International and Regional Studies. In 2012-2014 was a member of Steering Committee of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum. From 2016 he is a member of SC of Ukrainian national platform of the EaP Civil Society Forum. Head of the Civic Council under the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs. Fields of interest: International relations and foreign policy of Ukraine, security in the Eastern Europe, Eastern partnership policy, European and Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine, diplomatic service, economic diplomacy.

This policy brief is developed within the project “Romanian – Ukrainian Civil Society Forum for Dialogue and Cooperation. Third edition”, implemented by the Experts for Security and Global Affairs Association, Romania, in partnership with Strategic and Security Studies Group and Foreign Policy Council “Ukrainian PRISM ”, Ukraine, with the support of Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation, a project of the German Marshall Fund. The views expressed in this policy paper are those of the author and do not necessarily coincide with those of ESGA partners.