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Å tefan FÃœLE: â€œOver a number of years EU and Azerbaijan have been able to establish a successful and mutually beneficial relationshipâ€ - INTERVIEW

Å tefan FÃœLE: â€œOver a number of years EU and Azerbaijan have been able to establish a successful and mutually beneficial relationshipâ€ - <font color=red>INTERVIEW</font>

08 April 2010 11:45 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Victoria Dementyeva â€“ APA. Å tefan FÃœLE, European Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy gives an interview to APA.

- Mr. Fule, congratulate you on a new position. You became a Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood policy, before that these functions performed by two commissioners. What kind of changes took place in you functions and responsibilities?

- Thank you. I am pleased to be working with this stimulating and rewarding portfolio of the new Commission.

It is true that I take work forward which in the past was under the responsibility of two Commissioners. At the same time, it should be remembered that the Enlargement process and the European Neighbourhood policy continue to be distinct processes with different frameworks and end goals. Moreover, the Lisbon Treaty created a new position, namely the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, which should allow the EU, more than in the past, to act and speak as one. As you probably know, this post has been taken up by Baroness Ashton with whom I closely cooperate, including on the countries of the European Neighbourhood.

Let me also mention that the EU highly values a close relationship with its neighbours in the East as well as in the South, for reasons of geographic proximity, strong trade and political relations, also common history. As regards Azerbaijan, clearly, over a number of years we have been able to establish a successful and mutually beneficial relationship. I want to bring it to an even higher level, in the interest of both Azerbaijan and the EU itself.

- How do you estimate the implementations of ENP action plan by Azerbaijan? When the next progress report will be ready?

- The implementation of the ENP Action plan is of great importance for the EUâ€™s relations with all the partner countries in the Neighbourhood region, because the Action Plan translates our bilateral long-term objectives into a step-by-step approach with concrete actions to be taken by the partner country. The ENP Action Plan for Azerbaijan dates back to 2006, and it is therefore possible today to have an overview of developments over a number of years. Like in many partner countries, progress in Azerbaijan has been uneven and there is certainly room for further progress in a number of areas.

It is however, premature for me to make any specific detailed assessment as the Commission is right now making its assessment of the implementation of the Action Plan in 2009. The new one will be issued at the beginning of May.

- How do you see the EU-Azerbaijan cooperation in the framework of Eastern Partnership program? Donâ€™t you think, that Eastern Partnership was a promising project, which is so delayed and did not justify hopes?

- I certainly do not see the Eastern Partnership as an issue of the past. Quite to the contrary, the Eastern Partnership is young given that is was launched in May of last year. It builds on the experiences of the European Neighbourhood Policy and provides for the deepening of relations in a vast number of areas ranging from political dialogue, human rights, education and youth exchanges to promotion of business and investment. All this would be reflected in the Association Agreement that the EU would like to negotiate with Azerbaijan. This Agreement, in our perspective, should include a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area which would give our trade relations a push, by providing Azerbaijan with better access to the EU market of 500 million consumers. Increased trade flows will generate more jobs in Azerbaijan and help further diversify the countryâ€™s economy, away from gas and oil. One of the key steps Azerbaijan needs to take before we can start this process is to join the World Trade Organisation and I urge Azerbaijan to speed up its accession negotiations.

- How is EU- Azerbaijan negotiation on visa facilitation process going on?

- We fully realise the importance of ensuring that people from our partner countries can travel much more easily to Europe than it is possible today. Importantly, the Eastern Partnership wants to help ensure that citizens from Azerbaijan (and the other EaP countries) travel to Europe without a visa. While visa free travel to Europe for Azerbaijani citizens at this point is a long-term objective, we want to make everything possible to make it happen, in the future. A crucial step on the way forward is the negotiation of visa facilitation and readmission agreements. The visa facilitation agreement, in a first step, would ease the conditions under which visa are issued to people from Azerbaijan, while the readmission agreement would help ensure that Azerbaijan takes back people from Europe that gained access illegally coming from Azerbaijan. Preparatory work is ongoing to allow us to move to the negotiation of such agreements with Azerbaijan. As regards the South Caucasus, we already have negotiated such agreements with Georgia.