Ms Anne Barrington:

Clearly, the European Neighbourhood Policy, the Eastern Partnership and the partnership and relationship with the southern Mediterranean states are priorities for the EU.

Coming up in the next short while is a major summit of the Eastern Partnership, which will take place in Vilnius next November, when we hope we will be in a position to sign a number of association agreements with some of the Eastern Partnership countries. Clearly, they are at different stages of development and of the relationship. The most advanced is Ukraine, although there are still some issues before we can get to the point of signing an association agreement. The Ukrainian authorities have undertaken to do a range of things such as rectify selective justice, deal with the issues that were identified in the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, OSCE, Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, ODIHR, election report, and a range of matters including addressing the issue of Mrs. Yulia Tymoshenko. They have to do a number of things. An EU parliamentary delegation is in Ukraine working to see if a bridge can be built between Ukraine and the EU so that by next November we, as EU members, will be in a position to sign the association agreement, which would be a very significant step in Ukraine's prospective looking towards the EU.

The other members of the Eastern Partnership are at different stages of the relationship but are more or less progressing. There are issues with Belarus which will need to be addressed. The human rights situation there is obviously of significant concern. The EU has been very active in focusing on building up democratic institutions with the southern neighbours and supporting the efforts towards democratisation, and that effort will continue in the coming period.