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Benita Ferrero Waldner: European Commission is ready to support confidence building measures and to contribute - once a peace deal is struck - to the rehabilitation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region â€“ EXCLUSIVE

06 December 2007 15:46 (UTC +04:00)

-Does the European Neighbourhood Policy prove itself with Azerbaijan and on the whole?

-The EU-Azerbaijan ENP Action Plan, a 5-year work programme that includes the principal priorities to support reforms in the country, thus bringing it closer to the European Union, was only concluded on 14 November 2006. So we are still in the first year of its implementation. Experience with those partner countries, which do already have Action Plans since 2005 show, that despite the fact that true reforms take a while to show their full effect, the policy is producing results.

-When will become the enlarging of ENP? And which countries will join it?

-At present, there are no plans to extend the geographic scope of the European Neighbourhood Policy. In my view it is more important now to strengthen our relations with each and every ENP partner and work really hard with them to achieve the objectives set out in the respective Action Plans.
This does not mean, however, that the EU does not seek close relations with â€œneighbours of neighboursâ€, nor that issues that extend beyond the geographical scope of the ENP, such as migration or energy, cannot be addressed in a holistic manner. Let me just point out two important initiatives in this respect: we developed a Central Asia Strategy and the Black Sea Synergy proposal. Both aim at closer regional cooperation with regions that are either completely or partially outside the geographic scope of the ENP.
-What is the relation of EU to GUAM organization, and to the energy projects of the countries, who are the members of GUAM?

-As a successful example of regional integration itself, the EU pays much attention to regional cooperation initiatives, such as GUAM and we follow their work closely.

-EU was going to finance GUAM countries for their developing. When will this process start? And how much will be each country given? What is taken into consideration when forming these sums?

-The Commission has been supporting Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova through its assistance programmes since their independence. And as of this year new Community assistance programmes, such as the ENPI (European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument), the Stability Instrument and a number of â€œthematicâ€ programmes are available. All of them cover the Neighbourhood area. Their aim is to support the reform process in the partner countries.
In the period from 2007 to 2013 Azerbaijan alone will receive some EUR 92 million in the context of the national assistance programme.

-Does the EU look forward to change the visa regime with ENP countries, and mostly with Azerbaijan?

-Increased mobility and exchange between the EU and the ENP partner countries is a central element of our Neighbourhood Policy.
Therefore, the European Commission has suggested that Member States look into how visa procedures can be made easier for legitimate travel from neighbouring countries to the EU and vice versa.
But as you may know, this can only be addressed in the context of a broader package including cooperation on illegal immigration, border management, readmission agreements, etc.
Changing the EU visa regime requires a unanimous decision by all EU Member States as well as the implementation, by the country concerned, of a number of measures of a more technical nature. The ENP Action Plan foresees the establishment of a dialogue between the EU and Azerbaijan on these matters; and I hope that these discussions with our Azerbaijani partners will start in the near future.

-EU stated about being ready to help regulating Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The special representative on South Caucasus Mr. Peter Semneby is now preparing a visit to the occupied territories. Is it possible, that EU will influence the regulation more really, letâ€™s say, take any steps against Armenia â€“ as a country which is also an ENP participating country â€“ to set free Azeri territories?

-The EU position on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is absolutely clear: we fully support the mediation efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group and encourage both Armenia and Azerbaijan to make full use of this negotiating framework to achieve a peaceful resolution of this long-lasting conflict. The European Commission is also ready to support confidence building measures and to contribute - once a peace deal is struck - to the rehabilitation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

-Will EU technically help Azerbaijan in having democratic presidential elections in 2008?

-We really hope that the 2008 presidential elections are held in conformity with Azerbaijanâ€™s international obligations. As regards our technical support, this will be provided through OSCE/ODIHR, as was the case in the 2003 presidential and the 2005 parliamentary elections. /APA/