02/07/2003 13:26
The European Commission proposed Tuesday a 955-million-euro programme to boost cooperation with the new neighbours of the enlarged European Union.
The plan for 2004-2006 would improve partnerships on the 10,000 kilometres (6,000 miles) of the enlarged EU's borders with Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova, as well as with Balkan countries and in the Mediterranean, Brussels said.
The EU is planning to welcome 10 more member states in May next year, drawn from the former Soviet bloc and the Mediterranean.
Enlargement Commissioner Gunther Verheugen said the bloc's biggest expansion yet required more work to promote "stability, prosperity and security beyond the new borders of the EU".
"Experience gained by new member states can now be shared with their neighbours across the external borders of the Union," he said.
The new "neighbourhood programmes" would better coordinate an alphabet soup of existing cooperation agreements such as "INTERREG", "CARDS" and "MEDA", according to the EU's executive arm.
But their introduction will depend on the Commission winning funding from member states for the 955-million-euro budget earmarked for the programmes.
The plan has four main objectives:
-- promoting economic and social development in the border areas;
-- working together to address common challenges, in fields such as environment, public health, and the fight against organised crime;
-- ensuring efficient and secure borders; and
-- promoting local, "people-to-people" partnerships.
Difficulties thrown up by the EU's enlargement were exposed Tuesday when future member state Lithuania switched to a new visa regime for Russian citizens travelling to and from the Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad.
Dozens of people who had fallen foul of the new rules were thrown off trains passing through Lithuania between the Russian mainland and Kaliningrad.
The new requirements -- which have angered Moscow -- apply to many other ex-Soviet countries, including Ukraine and Belarus, whose citizens need visas for the first time to enter Lithuania under its EU obligations.
Apart from Lithuania, the countries in line to join the EU next year are Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.
The plan for 2004-2006 would improve partnerships on the 10,000 kilometres (6,000 miles) of the enlarged EU's borders with Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova, as well as with Balkan countries and in the Mediterranean, Brussels said.
The EU is planning to welcome 10 more member states in May next year, drawn from the former Soviet bloc and the Mediterranean.
Enlargement Commissioner Gunther Verheugen said the bloc's biggest expansion yet required more work to promote "stability, prosperity and security beyond the new borders of the EU".
"Experience gained by new member states can now be shared with their neighbours across the external borders of the Union," he said.
The new "neighbourhood programmes" would better coordinate an alphabet soup of existing cooperation agreements such as "INTERREG", "CARDS" and "MEDA", according to the EU's executive arm.
But their introduction will depend on the Commission winning funding from member states for the 955-million-euro budget earmarked for the programmes.
The plan has four main objectives:
-- promoting economic and social development in the border areas;
-- working together to address common challenges, in fields such as environment, public health, and the fight against organised crime;
-- ensuring efficient and secure borders; and
-- promoting local, "people-to-people" partnerships.
Difficulties thrown up by the EU's enlargement were exposed Tuesday when future member state Lithuania switched to a new visa regime for Russian citizens travelling to and from the Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad.
Dozens of people who had fallen foul of the new rules were thrown off trains passing through Lithuania between the Russian mainland and Kaliningrad.
The new requirements -- which have angered Moscow -- apply to many other ex-Soviet countries, including Ukraine and Belarus, whose citizens need visas for the first time to enter Lithuania under its EU obligations.
Apart from Lithuania, the countries in line to join the EU next year are Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.
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