South Caucasus

A blunt statement issued by the spokesperson of the European Union on Wednesday (7 April) called on Georgia to revise the selection process of Supreme Court judges in line with Venice Commission recommendations, warning that this was also "a condition for the disbursement of the second tranche of macro-financial assistance to Georgia under its current programme".

Former Armenian president Robert Kocharyan has emerged as the strongest challenger to prime minister Nikol Pashinyan in Armenian’s forthcoming parliamentary elections. However, as Benyamin Poghosyan argues in this op-ed, most voters are simply motivated by their hate of one or the other.

In the South Caucasus, the problem of landmines and other unexploded remnants of war remains a serious issue across the region. Over the last months, since the end of the 44-day Karabakh War, the problem has become more acute as efforts are made to rehabilitate territories that were until recently in the conflict zone. Most of these territories are heavily mined. Problems also remain in other areas on both the Armenian and the Azerbaijani sides of the line of contact and the international border.

Seven Members of the European Parliament have published a joint statement in response to Georgian politicians' inability to reach an agreement to resolve the country's political crisis this week under the mediation of the President of the European Council’s Personal Envoy, Christian Danielsson.

Christian Danielsson, European Council President Charles Michel’s Personal Envoy, emerged in the early hours of Wednesday morning (31 March) after an eight hour meeting with the leaders of government and opposition parties, admitting that he was “sad to report that none of the political parties could agree to this solution in whole”.

The discussions between Georgia, Russia and other parties in the aftermath of the 2008 Georgia-Russia War resumed in Geneva this week where the 52nd round of the Geneva International Discussions were held. The talks were mediated by the three co-chairs of the process representing the EU, the OSCE and the UN.

After weeks of uncertainty on the issue of the leadership of the Armenian armed forces, on Monday the formal procedures for appointing a new Chief of the General Staff were completed, and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan visited the army headquarters to introduce the new head of the army to fellow senior officers. On his part the new head of the army, General Artak Davtyan, has made it clear that the army intends to keep out of politics.

Armenia appears heading for snap parliamentary elections on 20 June, but hopes that the poll may resolve the current gridlock in the Armenian political arena may be premature. Benyamin Poghosyan argues in this op-ed that for Armenia things may get worse before they get better.

Ambassador Natalie Sabanadze has resigned as the head of the Georgian Mission to the European Union – a post she has been occupying for the last eight years. Well liked and respected by the diplomatic community in Brussels, she will be a hard act to follow.