Community of Democratic Choice - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Community of Democratic Choice is an intergovernmental organization established on December 2, 2005 by nine states of Northern and Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...

in Kiev

Kiev

Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....

. It was mainly signed by countries from the region between the Baltic

Baltic Sea

The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...

, Black Sea

Black Sea

The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...

and Caspian Sea

Caspian Sea

The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. The sea has a surface area of and a volume of...

("The three Seas"). Its main task is to promote democracy, human rights and the rule of law in that region.

Membership

Founding member states:

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Observer countries/organizations

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}OSCE

Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe is the world's largest security-oriented intergovernmental organization. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, human rights, freedom of the press and fair elections...

History and precedents

The primary historical precedent of this community may be GUAM

Guam

Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...

, which brought together the governments of Georgia

Georgia (country)

Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...

, Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

, Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...

and Moldova

Moldova

Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...

(and for some time Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan , officially the Republic of Uzbekistan is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia and one of the six independent Turkic states. It shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south....

as well) and was likewise largely thought to have the function of counterbalancing Russian influence in the area. The effectiveness and strength of that organization is, however, disputed.

The creation of the Community itself was foreshadowed by the Borjomi Declaration of August 2005, a joint statement signed by the Presidents of Georgia and Ukraine, Mikheil Saakashvili

Mikheil Saakashvili

Mikheil Saakashvili is a Georgian politician, the third and current President of Georgia and leader of the United National Movement Party.Involved in the national politics since 1995, Saakashvili became president on 25 January 2004 after President Eduard Shevardnadze resigned in a November 2003...

and Viktor Yushchenko

Viktor Yushchenko

Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko is a former President of Ukraine. He took office on January 23, 2005, following a period of popular unrest known as the Orange Revolution...

, which envisioned the Community as a "powerful instrument for removing the remaining divisions in the Baltic

Baltic Sea

-Black

Black Sea

Sea region, human rights violations, and any type of confrontation, or frozen conflict.”

The Community of Democratic Choice was then created in Kiev during a two-day forum aimed at promoting democracy and human rights in the wider region of the Baltic

Baltic Sea

-Black

Black Sea

-Caspian

Caspian Sea

The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. The sea has a surface area of and a volume of...

Seas. Besides the presidents of the nine founding states, there were delegations from Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan

, Bulgaria

Bulgaria

Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

, the Czech Republic

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

, Hungary

Hungary

Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

and Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

and also observers from the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, the European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

and the OSCE.

Purpose and character

The Community has no clear shape. The Ukrainian Foreign Minister Borys Tarasyuk

Borys Tarasyuk

Borys Ivanovych Tarasyuk is a Ukrainian politician. He has twice served as the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. He is from Zhytomyr Oblast. Tarasyuk studied international relations and international law at National Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv, and graduated in 1975...

, for example, said that the community is not a project against anybody, but rather a project in favor of democracy, stability and prosperity. Likewise, President Viktor Yushchenko said that the initiative was not directed against any third countries or institutions and that its purpose was not "to befriend anyone against someone else", but that it must rather be seen as "dialogue between friends, adherents of ideas for promoting democracy and the supremacy of law".

On the other hand Giorgi Arveladze

Giorgi Arveladze

Giorgi Arveladze is the former Georgian politician, the former member of the Cabinet of Georgia and the Ex-Minister for Economics of Georgia. He was appointed on November 20, 2006, following the resignation of his precursor Irakli Okruashvili....

, presidential administration head of Georgia, said that the community would in essence be "an axis of democratic countries that do not wish to remain in Russia's orbit."

Temuri Yakobashvili, the vice-president of the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies said that he saw the Community of Democratic Choice as something in between the two main "poles of attraction" in the region (the EU and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization

Shanghai Cooperation Organization

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation or SCO , is an intergovernmental mutual-security organisation which was founded in 2001 in Shanghai by the leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan...

), saying that "the idea of creating a Community of Democratic Choice may appeal to those countries that are caught between those two blocs, but lean toward democracy and the West."

Besides the question of its character the membership of the community is still not clear. At the Vilnius Conference 2006 the two founding members Macedonia and Slovenia did not take part with representatives but one of the hosts was Poland. Further the Prime Minister of Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

Göran Persson

Hans Göran Persson was the Prime Minister of Sweden from 1996 to 2006 and the leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1996 to 2007. Conceding defeat in the September 2006 general election, he announced that he would resign as party leader, and Mona Sahlin was elected to succeed him as...

stated his country's intention to join the organization that was welcomed by Saakashvilli, saying that Sweden's entry would provide additional impetus to the CDC forum. So up till now there the question of membership in the CDC is not answered.

Nevertheless the President of Moldova, Vladimir Voronin

Vladimir Voronin

Vladimir Nicolaevici Voronin is a Moldovan politician. He was the third President of Moldova from 2001 until 2009 and has been the First Secretary of the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova since 1994...

, urged the Community to develop its own institutions, including its own parliamentary assembly, saying that it offered a possibility to integrate those countries that have chosen a European orientation.
The Vilnius Conference already gave a hint to what that means by including an Intellectuals, an NGO and a Youth Forum.

Meetings

December 1–2, 2005: Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....

, Ukraine
March 9–10, 2006: Tbilisi
Tbilisi
Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...

, Georgia
May, 2006: Vilnius
Vilnius
Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...

, Lithuania

Membership

History and precedents

Purpose and character

Meetings

See also