Brussels, 17/05/2005 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday, the European Commission called on the Uzbek authorities for restraint, whilst expressing its concern at the insurrection and bloodshed in the east of Uzbekistan. However, the Commission did not specify whether events in the central Asian former Soviet republic would have any impact on relations between the Union and Tashkent, which receives European aid in the region of ten million EUR a year. According to the spokesperson of Benita Ferrero-Waldner, Commissioner for External Relations, the Commission called on the Uzbek authorities to “return to dialogue and reconciliation and abstain from all recourse to violence”, and hoped for “a return to calm and restraint on all sides”. Pointing out that Uzbekistan had pledged to the EU that it would respect human rights and the rule of law, the spokesperson said that “we are doing all in our power to help the authorities to resolve [the situation] by dialogue rather than by arms”.