European Union stands by Armenia in new reports

May 22, 2010 – 13:42 AMT 08:42 GMT
PanARMENIAN.Net –

This week, the European Union published two reports which are relevant
for Armenia.

According to these, the overall state of Armenia’s relations with
Europe is better than it has ever been before and looks set to improve
further, the European Friends of Armenia (EuFoA) said in a press
release.

The EuFoA welcomes the widely supportive nature of the reports and
provides a summary of the most relevant points, including one point
currently critically debated in Armenian media:

The European Parliament resolution, voted on 20 May 2010, was
criticized in Armenia for its paragraph 8, calling for the withdrawal
of troupes from Karabakh. EuFoA agrees that the wording of this
paragraph is confusing and stresses that it has to be seen in context
with paragraph 7 of the same resolution, which reiterates that all
demands of the EU need to be in line with ALL of the so-called Madrid
principles and explicitly the Aquila declaration. This means
concretely that the withdrawal of troupes can only take place, if
there are sufficient security guarantees for the population of
Karabakh, a corridor to Armenia, an agreement to the final status of
Karabakh through a legally binding expression of will and the right of
all internally displaced persons and refugees to return to their
former homes. No EU institution has ever demanded the withdrawal of
troupes without such a comprehensive solution – this EP resolution has
not changed that. EuFoA regrets that paragraph 8 has left room for
interpretations and invites the Armenian authorities to discuss these
points during the coming meetings with the EP, but not to let this
recommendational resolution dominate the whole EU-Armenia agenda.

The same report (par 42) for the first time calls for extending EU
programs to Karabakh, ending the de-facto blockade for EU officials to
travel to Karabakh. This would have a very positive effect of
stabilization and progress for Karabakh and would no longer submit
such actions to a veto from Azerbaijan. The report also underlines the
separate nature of the Turkey-Armenia rapprochement and the
negotiations about Karabakh and calls for a ratification and
implementation of the respective protocols without preconditions and
in a reasonable time frame – supporting entirely the Armenian position
(par 12). Finally, it notes Armenia’s and Georgia’s commitment to the
implementation of the ENP Action Plans and calls on Azerbaijan to
accelerate its efforts in this regard (par 36).

The latter point was also welcomed by the comprehensive ENP report of
the European Commission, published on 18 May 2010. It notes that
Armenia made progress in many areas of the ENP Action Plan, launched a
regular human rights dialogue with the EU, improved the legislative
framework in the area of anti-corruption and strengthened the role of
the Human Rights Defender. The Commission also welcomes positive steps
to address the internal political crisis following the aftermath of
the Presidential elections in February 2008, including the Amnesty
issued in June 2009, the amendments to the Criminal Code and the
publication of the report by the Parliamentary Ad Hoc Inquiry
Committee. Besides, the EU adopted on 10 May 2010 the negotiating
directives for a future Association Agreement with which EU-Armenia
relations will reach a new level. Finally, the Commission welcomes
that Armenia widely aligned itself with the EU’s Common Foreign
Security Policy (CFSP) declarations (108 out of 138 in 2009, Georgia:
97, Azerbaijan: 56) and is generally very active in cooperating on
CFSP-related issues.