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Euronest Leader: Parliamentary Assembly Offers A Constructive Platfo

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  • Euronest Leader: Parliamentary Assembly Offers A Constructive Platfo

    EURONEST LEADER: PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY OFFERS A CONSTRUCTIVE PLATFORM FOR TALKS

    EurActiv
    May 31 2013

    The recent session of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly was a
    success, bringing together MEPs and their counterparts from Ukraine,
    Georgia, Moldova, Armenia and Azerbaijan, Bulgarian MEP Evgeni Kirilov
    tells EurActiv.

    Evgeni Kirilov (S&D) is member of the European Parliament's Foreign
    Affairs Committee and co-president of the Euronest Parliamentary
    Assembly. He spoke to EurActiv Senior Editor Georgi Gotev.

    Congratulations on your election as co-president of the Euronest
    Parliamentary Assembly. You have been elected under extraordinary
    circumstance, I understand?

    Indeed, this happened in urgency, as the former co-president Kristian
    Vigenin [S&D, Bulgaria] was nominated as foreign minister of Bulgaria.

    On 28 May the Parliamentary Assembly's leadership was meeting in
    Brussels, on 29 May the Euronest Parliamentary session took place. I
    was nominated on Monday [27 May] as the next co-president and elected
    the next day. And on Wednesday I was chairing the assembly together
    with the other co-president Borys Tarasyuk [Ukraine].

    What was the news from this session of the Euronest Parliamentary
    Assembly?

    This is the third such session. Let me say that the first session
    [in 2011 in Strasbourg] was not successful. It was discontinued over
    serious disagreements between partner countries, and a document could
    not be adopted.

    Can you be more specific?

    This was over texts regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict proposed
    by the Armenian and the Azerbaijani sides. As it was not possible to
    reach agreement, the document was not adopted. But since then we had
    positive developments. A second session took place in Baku [in 2012].

    The third one took place now and was much more constructive. The
    parliamentarians from those two countries succeeded to enter in
    dialogue, they managed to withdraw some problematic amendments based
    on mutual agreement and we were able to produce documents prepared
    by four commissions.

    We can call it a successful session, as several issues were addressed,
    relative to cooperation between the EU and the countries of the Eastern
    Partnership. In addition, we discussed a document in preparation of
    the EaP summit in Vilnius in November.

    This summit is seen as key for deciding on the future of EU relations
    with several Eastern Partnership countries. In particular, the
    possible signature of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement takes
    centre stage. What do you expect to happen?

    We heard a detailed, straightforward statement from [Enlargement]
    Commissioner Štefan Fule. I think it was seen by the participants to
    the assembly as realistic. He said that the period until the summit
    is of critical importance, not only for Ukraine, but for the other
    countries that are negotiating association agreements. The issue
    of putting in place free trade agreements, including concluding the
    [Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement] with Ukraine was also
    discussed. Decisions are expected in the autumn.

    That's why the draft document which we discussed as a message from
    the Parliamentary Assembly to the Vilnius Summit was debated in
    great detail. The bureau of the Parliamentary Assembly was tasked
    to update the draft with the achievements of the countries until the
    autumn. And we expect that we will be invited, the two co-presidents,
    to deliver this message to the summit.

    We are now in the critical stage which will allow the countries
    to make progress in their EU negotiations process and decide the
    possibility of the countries to sign the agreements. There are of
    course considerations of economic nature, but more important are the
    issues related to democracy and rule of law, human rights, etc.

    And for Ukraine, the situation with imprisoned former prime minister
    Yulia Tymoshenko...

    Of course, this issue was discussed as well. And the assembly took
    the view that even the solution to insurmountable problems is possible.

    Some countries in the EU hope that it would be possible to sign the
    EU-Ukraine Association Agreement for the sake of geopolitics, even
    without solving the Tymoshenko case. What do you think?

    I have to speak in my capacity of co-president of Euronest. The EU's
    main criticism is formulated as "the problem of selective justice". It
    is not up to the Commission, or to MPs, to determine who is guilty
    and who is not. What is important is that there should be guarantee
    that the courts' rulings are not a result of selective justice and
    political motivations. This is why the judiciary systems of our
    partner countries need to provide such guarantees.

    There are different opinions and many say that Ukraine cannot wait at
    the crossroads; that its population sincerely wishes the process of EU
    integration of their country to continue. In spite of some opinions,
    the overwhelming view is that all efforts must be made on behalf of
    the EU to support Ukraine's further EU integration, but also that
    the country concerned should do its homework and assume ownership of
    the process. This is not about imposing decisions; these should be
    sovereign decisions of our partner countries.

    It looks like German conservative MEPs are the most sceptical towards
    Ukraine?

    My colleague MEPs speak in individual capacity, they express the
    views of the citizens of their countries. Some of these opinions
    are very critical and single out areas where progress is indeed
    needed. But nobody is against the course which is in the interest of
    the Ukrainian citizens. There may be some partisan positions, but we
    are a Parliament, and everyone is free to speak. What is important
    is what happens at the moment of the vote.

    http://www.euractiv.com/europes-east/leading-mep-euronest-meetings-co-interview-528178



    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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