Eastern Partnership summit postponed

The European Union's Eastern Partnership summit will not take place during the Hungarian EU Presidency as scheduled but postponed the the period of the Polish presidency, the spokesman for the Hungarian presidency announced on Thursday.

The summit, planned for May 27, had been a major plank of Hungary's presidency program.

Márton Hajdu said the summit on expanding cooperation with Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia, originally to have been held in the Palace of Gödöllõ near Budapest, conflicted with several other international events, and this is why Hungary, after consulting with EU President Herman Van Rompouy, had proposed shifting the summit to the second half of the year.

"The reasons for the change of date and venue are purely logistical," Hajdu said.

He said the Hungarian presidency regards the Eastern Partnership as a major initiative and will cooperate with the next, Polish presidency, the European Council, and the Commission to ensure the success of the summit and the strengthening of the Partnership's aims and principles.