Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

BAKU: EU sends warning to Baku

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • BAKU: EU sends warning to Baku

    Baku Sun, Azerbaijan
    Sept 1 2006

    EU sends warning to Baku

    By Ahto Lobajaks


    BRUSSELS - European Commission officials have confirmed that European
    Neighborhood Policy `action plans' have been successfully negotiated
    with Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia and now await member-state
    approval.

    The `action plans' establish the priorities the EU and the South
    Caucasus countries involved want to jointly tackle in the course of
    the next five years.

    However, the announcement of the completion of the action plans was
    overshadowed by a stark warning from the commission to Georgia and
    Azerbaijan to stop increasing their military budgets.

    Strong sentiments

    In an unusually strongly worded speech, delivered at a conference in
    Slovenia on August 28, the EU's external relations commissioner,
    Benita Ferrero-Waldner, observed that `defense expenditure in the
    region is going through the roof.' A commission official who asked
    not to be identified said the particular objects of EU concern are
    Georgia and Azerbaijan. Ferrero-Waldner noted in her speech that
    increases in defense expenditure send a negative message in terms of
    resolving the region's conflicts. The commissioner also says such
    increases are unjustifiable in countries that are `in desperate need
    of investment in education, health, and small businesses.' The
    commissioner also criticized leaders in the region for their
    `inflammatory rhetoric.' She also noted there has been `little or no
    progress' toward settling the conflicts in Abkhazia, South Ossetia,
    and Nagorno-Karabakh.

    EU on the way

    Ferrero-Waldner, together with representatives of the EU's current
    Finnish presidency, will visit the Caucasus in early October to mark
    the adoption of the `action plans.'

    A commission official said the delivery of the plans would not in
    itself be conditional on defense cuts.

    But the official underlined Ferrero-Waldner's concerns, noting her
    speech also says `resolving or at least de-escalating the conflicts
    must be the first priority' for the EU's European Neighborhood
    Policy.
Working...
X