The GlobalFocus Center together with the European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS) hosted on Friday, December 6, 2019, in Bucharest experts and diplomats from the European Union for a meeting discussing the future of the Eastern Partnership, lessons learned during the past decade and challenges that lay ahead.

The EU is the most trusted international actor in the six countries in the Eastern Partnership – Moldova, Ukraine, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Belarus – but it needs to reshuffle its communication strategy in the partner states and has to reshape the way it communicates about the EaP for the Eu member states.

Above all, Eastern Partnership facilitated many beneficial transformations in the societies of the partner states, including boosting economic ties with the EU and also encouraging civil society activism.

However, there is much need for unity inside the EU in relation to the Eastern Partnership countries, as there is a need for integration and connectivity among the partnership states.

The Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs co-hosted the meeting with support from the Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation of the German Marshall Fund.

The event, meant to bridge the Romanian, Finnish, Croatian and German EU Council presidencies, took place under Chatham House rules.