Brussels, 03/09/2008 (Agence Europe) - “There cannot be a military solution to the conflicts in the Caucasus,” the European Parliament states in a resolution on the conflict in Georgia, and it expresses its “firm condemnation of all those who resort to force and violence in order to change the situation in the Georgian breakaway territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia”. The EP resolution, which was adopted on Wednesday 3 September, by 549 votes to 68, with 61 abstentions, calls on Russia to “respect the sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of the internationally recognised borders of the Republic of Georgia”. MEPs, who debated the issue the previous day (see EUROPE 9731) said that Russia's “unacceptable and disproportionate” military action and its deep incursion into Georgia was a violation of international law, for which “no legitimate reason” could be advanced. Parliament condemned Moscow's recognition of the independence of the two breakaway regions. Before the vote, Socialist group leader Martin Schulz said that his group would have preferred the resolution to make mention of “Georgia's initial inappropriate action”. This, however, did not call the group's support for the text into question.
“The partnership between the EU and Russia must be based on respect for the fundamental rules of European cooperation, upheld not just in words but in action,” the EP said, and it welcomed “the conclusions of the extraordinary meeting of the European Council held in Brussels on 1 September 2008” (see EUROPE 9730 and 9730a). It therefore supported the European Council's decision to postpone the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement negotiations, and called on Russia to “honour its all commitments under the ceasefire agreement … beginning with the complete and immediate withdrawal of its troops from Georgia proper and the reduction of its military presence in South Ossetia and Abkhazia to the Russian force deployed as peacekeepers in the two provinces before the conflict erupted”.
Calling on the EU to make “a robust contribution … to the planned international mechanism for the resolution of the conflict”, the EP welcomed the European Council decision to deploy an ESDP monitoring mission to complement those of the United Nations and the OSCE. It also called on the EU to “ask for a UN mandate for an ESDP peace mission. It welcomed the decision to hold an international donors' conference for the reconstruction of Georgia and demanded an independent international investigation to be held as a matter of urgency to establish the facts and shed light on allegation (including allegations of attacks on civilians and the use of cluster bombs).
MEPs also called on the European Commission to bring forward proposals in order to conclude readmission and visa facilitation agreements with Georgia at least as good as those concluded with Russia. Furthermore, the EP proposed that the European Union convene a “Trans-Caucasian Conference for Peace”, further develop the European Neighbourhood Policy to meet the needs of our Eastern partners, speed up the establishment of a free trade zone, in particular with Georgia, Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova, and liberalise EU visa policy with regard to these countries. It stressed the importance of the role that Georgia could play in improving the security of the EU's energy supplies, especially with the Nabucco oil pipeline which crosses the country. (A.B./transl.rt)