European Parliament: An innovative approach towards South Caucasus

Strasbourg (FRANCE) – The European Parliament adopted a resolution on the Review of the European Neighborhood Policy - Eastern Dimension, prepared by Marek Siwiec, MEP ( S&D, Poland), on April 7th, 2011, in regard to Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova.

The resolution focused on combating corruption, enhancing EU policies towards the Black Sea region, fostering complementarity between EU Black Sea policies and the Eastern Partnership, regional cooperation in security, justice and border management, freedom of expression, and freedom of association and assembly, the role of local authorities in the democratic development, of Trade Unions and social dialogue as part of the democratic development. It welcomed the work of the High-Level EU Advisory Group in Armenia. The European Parliament urged the Commission to promote the mobility of students, academics, researchers and businessmen of the ENP countries.

The European Parliament also emphasized the strategic significance of the Nabucco project and the liquefied natural gas (LNG) transportation under the AGRI project, and conditioned its budget support by the adherence of beneficiary countries to shared values and low levels of corruption.

The European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy (EAFJD) welcomes this resolution, which clearly showcases a stronger and more active EU role in the region.

The Federation welcomes the provisions of the Resolution regarding the terms of the European involvement in the “protracted” conflicts in Transdniestra and the South Caucasus, based on the principles of international law – in particular self-determination and territorial integrity: "We welcome the adoption of these landmark principles, while stressing non-use of force, those same outlines which are OSCE Minsk Group’s guiding principles, too", stressed Hilda Tchoboian, President of the European Armenian Federation.

Also, the Resolution calls for enhancing EU’s role in permanent and ad hoc conflict resolution structures, such as the OSCE; it calls for pragmatic initiatives and innovative approaches, such as the planning of confidence building measures and programs by establishing informal relations with societies of the breakaway territories. The EP expressed concern about the forcibly displaced persons (both refugees and internally displaced persons) who are still being denied their rights, while it proposes that the EU maintains its non-recognition policy. The Resolution clearly showcases a new EU role in the region with a balanced stance on some crucial issues, as is, the resolution mentions the Internal Displaced Persons (IDPs) of the armed conflict regions, but also stresses the refugees, mentions the principle of territorial integrity, but also the right to self determination, the importance of the States’ cooperation both with each other and with the Union, but also the rights of the civil society of the independent states.

The Federation is satisfied to see that the EP rejected various biased amendments arising from Azerbaijan’s unilateral positions on the Karabakh conflict.

“We welcome the adoption by the European Parliament of the principles of non use of force, and Self-Determination within International Law, adopted for many years by the OSCE in the peace negotiations process”. "We commend the ethical stance of all those MEPs who have been active in making this crucial resolution become balanced and unbiased” concluded Hilda Tchoboian.