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EU Could Assume Caucasus Peacekeeping Role

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  • EU Could Assume Caucasus Peacekeeping Role

    EU COULD ASSUME CAUCASUS PEACEKEEPING ROLE
    By Thomas de Waal in London for IWPR

    ISN, Switzerland
    May 31 2006

    The European Union's new special representative for the South Caucasus
    sees an enhanced role for the EU in conflict resolution.

    The new European Union special representative for the Caucasus, Peter
    Semneby, has suggested that the EU could in future lead a peacekeeping
    mission if a solution to the Nagorny Karabakh dispute is found.

    Semneby, a Swedish diplomat who has just taken up the post, said in
    an interview with IWPR in London last week that he wants to use his
    mandate to work on the region's unresolved conflicts.

    "It's no surprise that the main priority of my work is to engage as
    far as possible with conflict resolution," he said.

    Semneby emphasized that the European Union has no formal role in the
    detailed negotiations over Abkhazia - where the United Nations plays
    a mediating role - and in South Ossetia and Nagorny Karabakh, where
    that role is played by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation
    in Europe (OSCE).

    However, the idea of an international peacekeeping force is known to
    be under discussion in the current Karabakh talks, and should there
    be a breakthrough, an international body will be asked to lead it.

    This is where the EU could step in.

    "We will be expected to make a major contribution when a solution
    is found, and we are looking into the possibilities we have, both in
    terms of post-conflict rehabilitation and also - if the parties should
    so desire - in terms of contributing peacekeepers. And possibly even
    leading a peacekeeping operation," said Semneby. "I should mention
    that this is very hypothetical at this stage. This is only one of
    several options, but it's one that is being considered."

    A recent report by the International Crisis Group entitled "Conflict
    Resolution in the South Caucasus: The EU's Role" was scathing about
    the low profile the European Union has adopted on conflict resolution
    in the Caucasus until now.

    "[The EU] does not participate directly in negotiations on Nagorny
    Karabakh, Abkhazia or South Ossetia," said the report, published in
    March. "In and around Nagorny Karabakh, it has done little for conflict
    resolution. It has rarely raised the South Caucasus conflicts in its
    high-level discussions with partners and has employed few sanctions
    or incentives to advance peace."

    A subtle change in language in the mandate assigned to Semneby,
    compared with that of his predecessor Heikki Talvitie, means the EU
    special representative is no longer asked to "assist the resolution
    of conflicts" but to "contribute to the resolution of conflicts".

    Semneby said this linguistic change was small but important, calling it
    "a political signal that the conflicts are very high on the agenda".

    The post of special representative was established in 2003 and has
    a broad mandate -but a small budget. Acknowledging that it would
    be impossible to "engage across the board", Semneby identified his
    major priorities as contributing to peace processes and supporting
    state-building in the region, through initiatives such as judicial
    reform.

    Semneby, 46, has spent most of his career in Eastern Europe. As a
    Swedish diplomat he visited the Armenian earthquake zone in 1988,
    and he was a member of the first OSCE mission in Georgia in 1992. He
    also served as the last OSCE ambassador to Latvia and more recently was
    the organization's ambassador in Croatia - another post he says gives
    him the right experience to engage with the conflict-riven Caucasus.

    He confessed to a feeling of "deja vu" in returning to the region
    after a long gap, "This is the most disappointing aspect of coming
    back to the Caucasus after so many years. Of course there have been
    changes for the better as well. But the conflicts are such an obstacle
    to the normal development of societies in the Caucasus."

    Semneby will be called upon to tackle the image problem the EU has
    in the region, with lower visibility than the United States.

    The special representative has to talk on behalf of 25 countries,
    many of which have their own individual interests in the region. He
    acknowledged that the failure to adopt an EU constitution, which
    would have led to the development of a more coherent foreign policy,
    had made his job harder.

    However, with Bulgaria and Romania set to join the EU next year and
    Turkey beginning membership talks, the South Caucasus will inevitably
    begin to figure larger in Brussels.

    Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia are all members of the EU's European
    Neighbourhood Policy, a development that Semneby said was deepening
    their relationship with Brussels and would also entitle them to
    increased aid. "We're talking about hundreds of millions of euros
    for each country. The EU will also step up its representation in the
    countries, which will mean there will be a larger degree of visibility
    in the South Caucasus."

    "I will also spend some time trying to explain to the public in the
    South Caucasus what the EU is about. There is not a whole lot of
    knowledge to begin with. To the extent that the EU is known, there
    are still a lot of misunderstandings about what [it] is about."

    "I think there is also lack of knowledge in the EU about the south
    Caucasus and its particular problems and about the importance of this
    region for the EU, and if possible this is something I would like to
    engage on."

    Asked about the hopes of many people in the region who dream of
    joining the EU one day, the special representative was careful to
    reiterate that the European Neighbourhood Policy "does not contain
    a membership perspective".

    "It does mean that the countries can achieve a lot of the benefits
    of EU membership by working on the implementation of the European
    Neighbourhood Policy," he went on.

    "There is a problem - and I am the first to admit that - that since the
    membership perspective is not there as a big carrot at the end, this
    deprives us of one of the most powerful levers we had in encouraging
    the countries of Central Europe to carry out painful reforms."

    This article originally appeared in Caucasus Reporting Service,
    produced by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR).

    Caucasus Reporting Service is supported by the UK Foreign Office and
    the US State Department.
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