What were the Expectations from Brussels?

• 05.24.2016, 16:49
•  Europe,  World,  Armenia

On May 23 the 7th meeting of Foreign Ministers of the European Union and "Eastern Partnership" countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine) was held in Brussels. The sides discussed the current situation of the Eastern Partnership in the context of European Neighborhood Policy review and the prospects of a number of issues related to the preparation of the 2017 summit of the "Eastern Partnership".

It should be recalled that the EU has announced earlier that it intends to cooperate with each of the partners based on the needs and requests of each country.

As Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said in his speech, Armenia expects to develop the comprehensive cooperation in all possible areas and directions in the framework of both the Eastern Partnership and the European Neighborhood Policy, based on recent achievements and taking into account Armenia's commitments in other integration formats. It should be recalled that December of 2015 marked the official start of negotiations on a new comprehensive agreement between Armenia and the European Union, which is the legal basis for the creation of new cooperation between the parties.

In his speech Edward Nalbandian also touched upon the latest developments in the Karabakh conflict. Nalbandian, in particular, drew the attention of European diplomacy to the fact that  only a few days after the meeting between the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Vienna, the Azerbaijani officials attempted to doubt the results of the meeting.

In turn, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, commenting on the Karabakh conflict, said that the status quo is "unacceptable" and talked about demilitarization and withdrawal of troops.

As for cooperation with the EU, it should be mentioned that Azerbaijan puts more emphasis on economic rather than political cooperation with Brussels. According to Mammadyarov, Azerbaijan continues to exert all efforts in order to contribute more to the development of transport corridors in the region. At the same time, he emphasized the EU's energy sector and the importance of the "Southern Gas Corridor" and being a reliable partner.

Georgia's and Ukraine's priorities at this summit were the issues of liberalization of visa regime with the EU, which will be discussed at the July meeting of the European Council. As a result of the meeting, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavel Klimkin said that the negotiations are proceeding according to plan of the cancellation of visa regime. As a result of the meeting, his Georgian counterpart Mikheil Janelidze said that from July 1, 2016, the Association Agreement with the EU fully comes into force in Georgia.

It should be noted that a review of the European Neighborhood Policy will stimulate the overall framework of the "Eastern Partnership" for further cooperation with the EU. For example, Belarus, which has the ''weakest'' positions among the Eastern partners, is now interested in a new format of cooperation with the EU.