Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-04-17-Speech-2-192-000"
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"en.20120417.19.2-192-000"2
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"Mr President, honourable Members, I would like to thank you for this opportunity to report on the progress made in the negotiations on the association agreements between the European Union and Armenia and Azerbaijan respectively.
Increased tensions along the front lines add further concerns. We therefore urge the leaders on both sides to fully implement all commitments made in the Minsk Group framework. The European Union stands ready to continue to provide enhanced support for confidence-building measures and this will remain complementary to the Minsk Group framework.
The European Union has the capacities and experience to contribute to confidence-building measures on people-to-people contacts and on security. The European Union could also contribute to a number of initiatives, such as the mechanism proposed by the OSCE to investigate incidents along the lines of contact. We have underlined the need for unconditional/unrestricted access for European Union representatives to Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions. We continue to work on this with the Armenian and Azerbaijani leadership.
The second aspect is the issue of democracy, respect for human rights and the rule of law. Armenia and Azerbaijan are committed to sharing values and principles with the European Union in this field and we should make every effort to stress to them the need to ensure that their countries fully comply with these standards.
An important test for Armenia will be the upcoming parliamentary elections in May and the presidential election next year. In the case of Azerbaijan, the European Union has clearly expressed the need for progress in democratic reforms in a number of areas. We also called for an invitation to be extended to the rapporteur for political prisoners of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
Our level of ambition is high in this exercise: on what we can offer, but also on what we expect from our partners. This is where the ‘more for more’ principle will fully apply.
To conclude, let me once again congratulate the rapporteurs for their reports, as well as the European Parliament for the interest and attention you have shown in these two countries.
I welcome the interest and engagement demonstrated by the European Parliament in this regard. We have had an intensive and regular exchange with the two rapporteurs to prepare the two well-structured and comprehensive reports, for which I would like to thank Ms Jäätteenmäki and Mr Poręba.
The adoption of these reports comes at a moment when the relations of the European Union with the South Caucasus and, in particular, with Armenia and Azerbaijan, are under the spotlight. During the visit of the Armenian President Sargsyan to Brussels in March, and when I visited Baku to attend the Euronest plenary session two weeks ago, I conveyed two key messages to our interlocutors: first, our readiness to strengthen our links and to provide support, and second, our wish to see tangible progress on a number of issues, including deepened democracy, respect for human rights and conflict resolution.
Before providing comments on the reports, let me briefly give an update on the negotiations. There has been considerable progress since they were launched in July 2010. We had eight plenary meetings with Armenia, and five with Azerbaijan.
Out of 28 chapters on sectoral and economic reform, we closed 24 chapters with Armenia and 13 with Azerbaijan. Discussions on the political as well as the justice, freedom and security chapters are well advanced, in particular, with Armenia. Let me also stress that we perceived a genuine commitment of our interlocutors to fruitful – although at times difficult – negotiations, and this is reflected in the number of chapters closed so far.
As to the reports, I would like to say from the outset that we fully share the views of the rapporteurs that the association agreements currently under negotiation are fundamental and far-reaching tools for deepening our relations with the two countries.
Within the multilateral dimension of the Eastern Partnership, these agreements should also be instrumental in developing, in a regional context, a series of bilateral contacts between the two countries in a number of areas. At present, such contacts between Armenia and Azerbaijan are almost non-existent.
Let me also share with you my impressions on the two issues addressed in detail in the reports.
First, on Nagorno-Karabakh, the European Union has recently expressed its concern at the slow progress in the peace negotiations and it called on both Armenia and Azerbaijan to step up their efforts to reach agreement on the ‘Madrid principles’ as a basis for peace."@en1
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