Brussels, 11/04/2012 (Agence Europe) - On 2-4 April Euronest (comprising Armenian, Azeri, Georgian, Moldavian, Ukrainian and European MPs) adopted five resolutions during its second meeting in Baku. In the first resolution, the Euronest assembly calls on member states and Eastern Partnership countries to “immediately guarantee the fundamental rights of citizens to information” and to respect the principle of media autonomy. It also calls on “the role and position of the parliaments to be strengthened so as to better resist future challenges to democracy”. In another document, parliamentarians call for civil society's powers to be enhanced, as well as its rights and freedoms.
A third resolution calls on the EU to provide technical and financial assistance to enable implementation of reforms on the structural economy and public administration in Eastern Partnership countries. Parliamentarians also issue a warning in the fourth text against common threats to energy security, whilst underlining the environmental role that energy production should play.
Euronest additionally adopted an urgency resolution urging the Ukrainian authorities to allow the former prime minister of the Ukraine, Yulia Tymoshenko, to receive appropriate medical care.
Tensions surrounding High Karabakh. The meeting was also marked by tension over the conflict in High Karabakh between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Kristian Vigenin MEP (S&D) explained that “unsurprisingly, this proved a stumbling block and one of the issues that most divided parliamentarians in this assembly”. He also said that the Euronest Assembly is not the appropriate framework for resolving bilateral conflicts and that placing this issue on the top of the agenda would only divide members. He asserted: “We can only seek to build trust and understanding, as well as open up ways towards dialogue.” He congratulated Armenia and Azerbaijan for sitting down at the same table.
The former minister for foreign affairs and Ukrainian MP, Boris Tarassiouk, said that a multilateral assembly is not the appropriate forum for examining subjects that are not of mutual importance to all the different parties concerned.
The next Euronest meeting will take place on 28-29 May 2013 in Brussels. (CG/transl.fl)