EU: European Commission President Talks To RFE/RL On Relations With South Caucasus
By Ahto Lobjakas 17/09/2004 10:42

Radio Free Europe, Czech Republic
September 17 2004

The president of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, today begins
a tour of the South Caucasus. In an interview with RFE/RL, Prodi says
he will travel to the three capitals offering closer ties and aid —
but no membership perspective.

Prodi also rules out direct EU involvement in managing the region’s
conflicts, although he indicates the bloc is leaning on Russia to
play a constructive role. RFE/RL spoke with Prodi on the eve of his
departure. Brussels, 16 September 2004 (RFE/RL) — All three South
Caucasus capitals in recent months have asked the EU a simple question
— is the bloc’s door still open?

EU leaders are struggling to find a simple answer.

The official policy — Prodi told RFE/RL this week — is to avoid
talk of doors altogether.

He has a clear message to Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia that might
be paraphrased as “do not look a gift horse in the mouth.”

Instead of focusing on membership, he says, the three should take
advantage of what the EU is already offering — including a special
“neighborhood” policy that could pave the way for more investment
and economic opportunity.

“We must give [the three South Caucasus countries] this message:
‘Europe is a big market. In the future, when you’re building your
economy, you can export to Europe — and indeed not only energy.
Europe is [also] a big investor. It is enormous…the biggest economic
[actor] in the world and [it] is not far from the three countries.’ So,
we are ready to invest. We must prepare a climate in the three
countries. And then in our aid we always help to build infrastructure
linking the three countries or helping [train] customs officials to
facilitate trade and the movement of people, etc.,” Prodi said.

Concerning eventual EU membership, Prodi says this is not possible as
long as the borders of Europe remain unclear. Prodi acknowledges the
EU’s basic treaties promise membership to all “European” countries.
But, he says, Europe’s borders are not fixed and change with time.

He adds that now — just after the EU has added some 10 new members —
is a bad time to fix the borders. He says the European public must
be sent a message that Europe is not enlarging every day.

“But this does not mean that these three countries do not belong to
Europe. They don’t belong now, and it is not planned that they belong
in the ‘European Europe.’ But the doctrine of the neighborhood policy
that we worked on so long and so deeply is [there] to build links of
friendship and cooperation, strong links with countries, which for
the foreseeable are not members of the [European] Union,” Prodi said.

Prodi does not exclude the possibility that the border of Europe may
in 2015 run between Turkey on the one hand and Georgia and Armenia
on the other. He hastens to caution that the EU has yet to decide
whether to open accession talks with Turkey — the commission is due
to make its recommendation on 6 October. But he points out that once
talks begin, they do so “with the perspective of closing them.”

Prodi also directs his comments to Russia. He says Russia is a key
partner and an important player when it comes to the future of the
South Caucasus.

He avoids comment on recent Russian statements indicating the
possibility of pre-emptive strikes on terrorist targets outside its
own borders. But he does say that Russia, in his opinion, is not
interested in destabilizing the region.

“I think that now Russia is interested in promoting stability and
security in the area. This is what I think, and I know that the
Russians are wise, they have no interest to enlarge any conflict,”
Prodi said.

Prodi suggests that the EU — as a “strong, independent” friend of
Russia — can help in resolving what he calls the “frozen conflicts”
of the South Caucasus. But he rules out any EU military presence in
the region, at least for the time being.

Prodi says force is not an option for any of the problems of any of
the three countries. This is particularly true of Georgia and its
troubles with North Ossetia and Abkhazia. Prodi refuses to directly
indicate whether Tbilisi’s use of massive force would jeopardize its
blossoming ties with the EU.

He also observes that Georgia has in recent history used “intelligent
force” — this is a veiled reference to the largely peacefully resolved
conflict with Adjara.

Prodi says the EU engages in no favoritism among the three countries,
although Georgia is, so far, alone among the three to have benefited
from an international donors’ conference which netted a many million
dollar windfall.

Prodi promises the EU will be an “honest broker” among the three
countries.

“Globally, Georgia receives more money. But if you analyze European
policy, it has been very honest between the three countries. I am
not happy that the amount of resources has not been enough for the
terribly big needs of the countries, but I want to have a balanced
strategy,” Prodi said.

He says no donor conferences are planned for Armenia or Azerbaijan
at this stage.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress