Moldova & Georgia to sign EU Association Agreement on 27 June 2014

Moldova and Georgia on 13 May 2014 agreed to sign European Union (EU) Association Agreement on 27 June 2014. The President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy revealed this in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia.
 
The signing of the Association Agreement will help strengthen the trade and political ties between the EU and the two countries.

Besides, it will also help expedite the process of full membership for Moldova and Georgia to the 28-EU bloc which is the original foreign policy objective of both the countries.

The accord will also help defend the former Soviet republic countries from threats by Russia which opposes the EU's eastward expansion.

Although the Agreement was to be signed at the end of the year 2014 but EU expedited the process after the Russian annexation of Crimea in March 2014. EU fears that the crisis in Ukraine may snowball to other regions of the erstwhile USSR and Russia may annex these regions also.

In November 2013, Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia agreed to sign the EU Association Agreement. However, Ukraine under pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych backed away from signing the Agreement triggering the protests in Ukraine.

The end result of the whole episode was the ouster of pro-Russian President in December 2013; annexation of Crimea by Russia in March 2014 and Ukraine signing the Association Agreement with EU in April 2014.