O. SIMONS: EU READY TO SUPPORT SETTLEMENT OF CONFLICTS IN THE CAUCASUS

Panorama.am
16:50 21/05/2010

Politics

It’s obvious that the non-regulated issues in the Caucasus are a
serious obstacle in ensuring stability and prosperity in the region
and the current status-quo is unacceptable and not perpetual,"
Charge d’Affaires of the European Commission delegation to Armenia,
Onno Simons told reporters Friday.

According to O. Simons, status-quo is unacceptable as there is a
possibility of war and escalation of tension. He called on the sides to
actively get involved into the peace establishing processes worldwide.

Simons highlighted that Georgian-Ossetian war clearly showed that
non-regulated conflicts have negative impact on the EU security and
the close borders between Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as Armenia
and Turkey seriously impede to the regional development.

"As you know, EU is not directly involved in the negotiating process
within the OSCE Minsk Group framework, nevertheless, the EU has
expanded its presence in the region and this assumes a more serious
role in the settlement of the conflict," Simons said.

"More than ever, EU is ready to support the negotiating process within
the OSCE Minsk Group framework," he said.

Simons highlighted that EU is closely watching the Armenian-Turkish
normalization dynamics and they hope the protocols will be ratified.