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  • EU Decides To Slow Down

    EU DECIDES TO SLOW DOWN
    By Sargis Karapetian

    Yerkir.am
    May 19, 2006

    On May 15 the European Union made an unexpected decision to postpone
    approval of the Action Plan for the South Caucasus. The EU's foreign
    political relations commissioner Benita Ferero-Waldner announced this
    decision in Brussels.

    Waldner stated a new round of negotiations will be held with Armenia,
    Georgia and Azerbaijan. "The negotiations will be held as soon as we
    see that the parties are ready for them. I hope we will be able to
    reach an agreement," Waldner stated.

    The statement was made on the day when the third round of EU-Azerbaijan
    negotiations was to be held. Neither Azerbaijan nor EU representatives
    have made any comments on this. It can be assumed that Baku and
    Azerbaijan failed to come to an agreement on the position of the Greek
    Cyprus which had protested against Azerbaijan's attempts to establish
    relations with the self-proclaimed Turkish Cyprus Republic. Media
    report that Baku and Nicosia failed to overcome their disagreements
    and Cyprus, being a member of the EU, uses its right to veto.

    Meanwhile, the Azeri political scientist Rasim Musabekov believes
    Brussels's decision derived from the EU's special approach to the
    Karabagh conflict and Azerbaijan's territorial integrity.

    Musabekov says, "The documents EU signed with Moldova and Georgia
    clearly state that territorial integrity should prevail." This means
    that EU supports the territorial integrity of these states. "Azerbaijan
    insists on a similar wording but EU seems hesitant to agree," Musabekov
    stressed. Political analysts note that this is what prevents the
    parties to start the discussion of the action plan.

    Azerbaijan seems to include its ambitions towards Nagorno Karabagh into
    the action plan for cooperation with the European Union. However, it
    has miscalculated its chances forgetting that on the one hand France,
    an EU member, participates in the Karabagh settlement process, and
    on the other hand, EU does not want to be a direct mediator leaving
    this mission to the OSCE Minsk Group.

    Georgia hopes for EU to directly engage in the settlement of conflicts
    on its territory. Meanwhile, EU states that it is ready to assist
    economically with post-conflict rehabilitation. EU has a similar
    position on Nagorno Karabagh. EU has strategic objectives in the
    region, one of them being use of transit routes that have been unused
    because of the conflicts. This is why EU supports regional cooperation.

    Azerbaijan is an obstacle for such cooperation since it refuses to have
    any cooperation with Armenia until the final settlement of the Karabagh
    conflict using Turkey and Georgia to bloc cooperation attempts. The
    South Caucasus Stability Pact was discussed on May 12 in Brussels.

    The discussion was initiated by the Parliamentary Assembly of the
    Council of Europe. Radio Liberty reports, head of the OSCE department
    at the Armenian Foreign Affairs Ministry Varuzhan Nersissian stressed
    in his statement that the Stability Pact can work only if two
    preconditions are satisfied: first and most important, political will
    and the willingness of the parties, second, there must be a clear-cut
    perspective, a promise that the South Caucasus states can join the
    EU in the future, just like it happened after the Stability Pact was
    signed in the Balkans.

    Meanwhile, Azerbaijan's Ambassador to the Council of Europe Mamadarov
    once again voiced Baku's demand for Azerbaijan's territorial integrity.

    Azerbaijan seems to ignore the European Union's interests and go
    against European integration policies rejecting cooperation and
    trying to preserve its right to resort to force. Such a position goes
    against the EU's interests. The latter, meanwhile, has not yet found
    the right leverage to influence Azerbaijan.
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