Not a good time to change OSCE MG format, ICG expert says

Not a good time to change OSCE MG format, ICG expert says

May 29, 2011 – 16:43 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net –

It is not a good time to change OSCE Minsk Group format having an EU
representative instead of a French co-chair, because the co-chairs
feel that they are very close to signing the basic principles,
International Crisis Group (ICG) Europe Program Director Sabine
Freizer believes.

If an agreement on “basic principles” is not reached in the coming
months, the international community will have to seriously think about
efficiency of negotiating format and the chosen strategy, she noted.
In this context the EU will have a chance to prove itself.

On Wednesday the EU published a report – revised European Neighborhood
Policy (ENP), which is under consideration of the European Parliament
and other EU authorities.

The report says that the European Union is ready to enhance EU
involvement in solving protracted conflicts. The EU must be ready to
step up its involvement in formats where it is not yet represented,
such as the OSCE Minsk Group on Karabakh conflict, the report reads.

Experts suppose that this may imply the EU involvement in the Minsk
Group as a co-chair, perhaps, by replacing the French co-chair.

“There has been a discussion within the European Union about weather
or not it would useful to have an EU representative instead of French
co-chair,” Freizer said. “But, of course, for that to happen would
require also the approval by Azerbaijan and Armenia, and other two
co-chairs,” Trend news quoted her as saying.