EU WARNS CAUCASUS LEADERS ON FROZEN CONFLICTS
by Leigh Phillips

EUobserver.com
February 5, 2008 Tuesday 9:27 AM GMT

The commissioner for external relations and European Neighbourhood
Policy (ENP) Benita Ferrero-Waldner has warned Azerbaijan’s leaders
that so-called frozen conflicts in the South Caucasus region could
be a barrier to deeper cooperation with the European Union.

"It is evident that the presence of frozen conflicts in the
region is an obstacle to further development of the countries
individually, including their own cooperation at the regional level,"
the commissioner told local reporters after the opening of a new
commission delegation in Baku.

"And it also limits the possibilities of cooperation initiatives
that could be implemented by the European Commission," she added,
according to Azeri news service Today.az.

The EU’s South Caucasus ‘troika’ arrived in Azerbaijan yesterday (4
February) as part of a whistle-stop tour of the volatile region to
discuss the developing relationship between the EU and Azerbaijan,
Armenia and Georgia.

The commissioner, who together with Slovene Foreign Minister Dimitrij
Rupel and EU Special Representative for the Southern Caucasus
Ambassador Peter Semneby are in the Caucasus to hold high-level
meetings with the region’s leaders, as well as open new fully-fledged
European Commission delegations in Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Ahead of the official blue-ribbon-cutting ceremony opening the
Azeri commission delegation yesterday, Ms Ferrero-Waldner said:
"[The new delegations] open a new chapter in our relations with
these countries. It is a confirmation of the commission’s commitment
to cooperate closely with the South Caucasus countries, supporting
reforms with a view to bringing the whole region closer to Europe".

The troika members are to look at the state of implementation of the
ENP Action Plans and the current situation of the frozen conflict in
Ngorno-Karabakh. However, the main focus of cooperation with Azerbaijan
in particular is good governance, socio-economic reforms and energy.

The ENP offers Europe’s sea and land neighbours a privileged
relationship, involving a "deeper political relationship and economic
integration" than with other regions.

Its central element is the bilateral ENP Action Plan agreed between
the EU and each country, which demands a series of political and
economic reforms.

The ENP Action Plans in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia were adopted
in late 2006. Implementation is supported by assistance to the tune of
¤92 million in Azerbaijan, ¤98.4 million in Armenia and ¤120 million
in Georgia up to 2010.

"The European Union promised to the Azerbaijani government to open
the office long ago and I have done my best to fulfil this promise,"
said Ms Ferrero-Waldner at the opening, according to Azeri news
service Today.az.

The Azeri deputy prime minister Abid Sharifov was welcoming,
but reminded the troika that the country had been waiting for the
inauguration of the office for more than ten years.

The dispute over the province of Ngorno-Karabakh officially ended
with a ceasefire in 1994 after the death of some 25,000 people and
the displacement of more than a million. However hundreds have been
killed in the years since in incidents across the ceasefire line.

The director of the International Crisis Group’s Europe programme,
Sabine Freizer, warned last week that Azerbaijan has recently been
massively expanding its military spending, raising it by 82% in 2006,
and called on the EU to get more involved in resolving the conflict.

–Boundary_(ID_KXvGBbJC6WtKuN8zB0vuWQ)- –