Six concrete steps for the EU to take in Nagorno-Karabakh

The EU must become actively involved in trying to find a solution to the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, which flared up again on April 2, killing dozens, according to two policy experts.

Dennis Sammut, director of LINKS, and Amanda Paul, a senior policy analyst, outlined six concrete steps the EU can take, in a paper for the European Policy Centre in Brussels:

 

  • The EU should demand to be formally represented within the wider Minsk Group, through the EU member state holding the rotating EU presidency
  • The EU should consider the Karabakh conflict an essential part of the its political dialogue with Armenia and Azerbaijan, not bypassed to make things easier
  • The EU should appoint military liaison officers in Baku and Yerevan
  • The EU should engage with civil society through instruments such as the EPNK (The European Partnership for the Peaceful Settlement of the Conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh)
  • The EU should ensure member state positions on Karabakh are better synchronised
  • The EU should coordinate and consult with other regional stake holders, including Russia, Turkey and Iran

The full paper can be read here: http://www.epc.eu/pub_details.php?cat_id=4&pub_id=6447

PHOTO: the European Commission in Brussels

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