Verklaring eurocommissaris Füle bij aftrap informele dialoog in het kader van het Oostelijk Partnerschap (en)

Thank you all very much for your participation in this very important day for the Eastern Partnership which marks the launching of the Informal Dialogue. This is an important tool to steer our more and more comprehensive partnership. I thank the Republic of Moldova for hosting the first meeting.

This Informal High Level Partnership is not a substitute for the established framework of our cooperation in the Cooperation Council, ministerial meetings or summits.

Today marks a new phase of the Eastern Partnership. The Road Maps covering both bilateral and multilateral cooperation have been presented recently by HRVP Ashton and myself and we will use this Informal Dialogue to guide the implementation of the Eastern Partnership objectives to help us define our priorities until the next summit which will take place in 2013.

It is not by chance that we are in Chisinau today. Moldova is a very good example of how the determination in the implementation of the agreed reforms and increased EU assistance can move the country ever closer to the EU to the benefit of its citizens

I look forward to continuing these dialogues every 6 months in different capitals of the partner countries but I am also looking forward to discussing concrete issues with our partner countries.

We are building a community of values but it is important to build it on the commitments of our partners to free and fair elections, fundamental rights, the rule of law and it will be their commitment and pace of the reforms that will determine the intensity of our support.