COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION. PRESIDENCY CONCLUSIONS. Follow-up to the European Council of 1 September 2008

Brussels, 15 and 16 October 2008.

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21. The European Council notes with satisfaction that Russian troops have withdrawn from the zones adjacent to South Ossetia and Abkhazia as an essential additional step in the implementation of the agreements of 12 August and 8 September, as well as the launching in Geneva of the international discussions provided for by those agreements. The European Council is asking the Commission and the Council to continue a full in-depth evaluation of EU-Russia relations with a view to the forthcoming summit, scheduled to take place in Nice on 14 November. It will be taken into account in the further negotiations for a new Partnership Agreement with Russia.

22. The European Union is resolved, in particular through its neighbourhood policy, to continue supporting its eastern neighbours in their efforts to achieve economic modernisation and democratisation. The European Council stresses in this respect the importance of the outcome of the EU-Ukraine Summit in Paris and calls for relations between the Union and the Republic of Moldova and Georgia to be strengthened in accordance with the Council conclusions of 13 October. It is instructing the Council to conduct an initial examination of the proposals for a future "Eastern Partnership" of the European Union which the Commission intends to submit in November.

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