Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-04-17-Speech-2-191-000"
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"en.20120417.19.2-191-000"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the report on Armenia that I prepared in the European Parliament is, in my view and in that of my political group, a significant and important report. Why is this the case? The reason is that we believe that all countries in the Southern Caucasus, including Armenia, would be more secure if they were closer to Europe, if they cooperated more with the European Union, and if they introduced European standards in their own countries. They would be safer not just from the point of view of the countries themselves, but also from the point of view of the European Union.
While preparing this report, I visited Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, where I had meetings with authorities from both Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia in order to obtain information on the ground in Armenia about relations between the countries in this region and to learn about the views of the Armenian authorities as regards the political situation in the area. It was important to me that the report that you have in front of you, which we are now debating and on which we will be voting tomorrow, should be completely objective and should present the whole complex situation in this region as well as a complete background to the conflict. It was also important that it should point to some optimistic objectives and that it should contain optimistic information showing that there is a possibility – sooner or later, depending on the authorities in that country – of better and more effective cooperation between Armenia and the European Union. Why is this important? It is important because the association agreement negotiations with Armenia that began in 2010 are making good progress. Since that time, 24 chapters have been closed and it would appear that at present, there are no issues that would bring about any untoward extensions to these negotiations.
Last year, Armenia prepared a comprehensive reform strategy and then presented it for assessment by the European Commission, together with a request for support. As far as I know, Commissioner Štefan Füle and Prime Minister Sargsyan are currently working on a joint programme to improve and implement this strategy. We are counting on the European Parliament being kept informed on an ongoing basis about the progress being made in this work. There is no doubt that the Armenian authorities are facing many challenges and some painful reforms. It was very important to me that the report focused both on those areas where significant improvements had already been made, as far as the internal situation in Armenia is concerned, as well as on areas such as human rights or press freedom in its broadest sense, where improvements are being made but where more still needs to be done. It is only by doing this that good relations and a rapid conclusion to the negotiations with the European Union can be guaranteed. Recognition should certainly be given to the support provided by the Armenian authorities to the office for the protection of human rights, which enjoys considerable independence.
Finally, I would like to mention the issue of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, which is obvious to anyone who follows the situation in the Southern Caucasus. It is discussed in both reports, both in mine and in that of Anneli Jäätteenmäki. Parliament has emphasised the need to comply with the guidelines set out by the OSCE Minsk Group in its joint declaration of 10 July 2009 and has linked negotiations for association agreements with Azerbaijan and Armenia with reliable undertakings aimed at ending the conflict. For me, ladies and gentlemen, there is no doubt that we, as the European Parliament, will not resolve this conflict and we will not be able to solve this problem. Everything depends on the two countries, on how they develop their relations. However, we here in the European Parliament ..."@en1
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