EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION
on the need for an EU strategy for the
The European Parliament,
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The conflicts in
13. Reiterates its unconditional support for the sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of the internationally recognised borders of Georgia, and calls on Russia to respect them; encourages the Georgian authorities to make further efforts to achieve a settlement of Georgia's internal conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia; welcomes the Tagliavini Report and supports its main observations and conclusions; expects that the extensive background information provided by the Report can be used for legal proceedings at the International Criminal Court and by individual citizens as regards infringements of the European Convention on Human Rights; supports the EU Monitoring Mission (EUMM) mandate and calls for its further extension; calls on Russia and the de facto authorities of the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia to stop blocking parts of its implementation;
14. Notes with satisfaction that the international community almost unanimously rejects the unilateral declaration of independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia; deplores the recognition by the Russian Federation of the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as contrary to the international law; calls on all parties to respect the Ceasefire Agreement of 2008 as well as to guarantee the safety and free access of EUMM personnel on the ground and calls on Russia to honour its commitment to withdraw its troops to the positions held before the outbreak of the August 2008 war; notes with concern the agreement of 17 February 2010 between the Russian Federation and the de facto authorities of Abkhazia to establish a Russian military base in Abkhazia without the consent of the Government of Georgia and notes that such an agreement is in contradiction with the Ceasefire Agreements of 12 August and 8 September 2008;
15. Stresses the importance of protecting the safety and rights of all people living within the breakaway regions, of promoting respect for ethnic Georgians' right of return under safe and dignified conditions, of stopping the process of forced passportisation, of achieving a reduction of the de facto closed borders, of obtaining possibilities for the EU and other international actors to assist people within the two regions; underlines the need for more clearly identified short- and medium-term objectives in this respect; encourages Georgia to continue implementing its IDP Action Plan and assisting the IDPs within its territory;
16. Stresses the need to address the Georgian-Abkhaz and Georgian-South Ossetian dimension of the conflicts and ensure that the rights and concerns of all populations involved are equally taken into account; stresses the fact that the isolation of Abkhazia and South Ossetia is counterproductive to conflict resolution and welcomes the State Strategy on engagement through cooperation adopted on 27 January 2010; encourages the Georgian authorities to consult all stakeholders regarding the preparation of an action plan on the implementation of this Strategy; emphasises the importance of confidence-building measures and people-to-people contacts across the conflict; furthermore, encourages the EU to promote projects of freedom of movement along with Administrative Border Lines between affected people;
17. Considers the great importance of the Geneva Talks as the only forum in which all sides to the conflict are represented and where three major international actors – the EU, the OSCE and the UN – work in close cooperation for the security and stability of the region; regrets that the potential of this forum has not yet yielded substantial results and that incidents continue to take place on the ceasefire line despite the welcome establishment of the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism; calls on the parties to fully exploit the Mechanism and its potential for the enhancement of mutual confidence; calls on the Vice-President of the Commission/High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (VP/HR) to make every effort to give new and fresh impetus to these talks with a view to reaching a satisfactory stabilisation of the situation and fully implementing the August 2008 Ceasefire Agreement;
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Security issues and peaceful resolution of conflicts
39. Believes that providing support to conflict resolution processes is crucial and that the EU is well placed to support confidence-building, reconstruction and rehabilitation and has the possibility to help involve the communities affected; in this regard, the creation of spaces for civic engagement not just between leaders but also between civic organisations is pivotal; furthermore, considers it essential to maintain a high level of international attention to all the conflicts in the region to ensure their swift resolution; recognises regional cooperation as a necessary condition for confidence-building and the reinforcement of security, in accordance with the ENP priorities; calls on all parties to fully engage in the multilateral cooperation track of the Eastern Partnership without linking it to the final solution of the conflicts;
40. Stresses the dangerous potential for a spillover of frozen conflicts in the region; in this context, recommends the setting-up of a Conference on Security and Cooperation in the South Caucasus, embracing the countries concerned and the relevant regional and global actors, with a view to developing a Stability Pact for the South Caucasus;
41. Takes note of the current EU involvement in conflict resolution processes in the region and believes that the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty justifies a more prominent role for the EU; fully supports the EU Special Representative (EUSR) for the South Caucasus, Peter Semneby; welcomes the work of the EUMM in Georgia and calls for increased EU action to persuade Russia and the relevant de facto authorities to stop blocking the EUMM from entering South Ossetia and Abkhazia; considers that the EU now has the opportunity to support the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and underlines the importance of the EU contribution in this regard; therefore finds it inevitable for the EU's role in the Minsk Group to be upgraded through the establishment of an EU mandate for the French Co-Chair of the Minsk Group; calls on the Commission to explore the possibility of providing humanitarian aid and assistance to the population in the Nagorno-Karabakh region as well as to the IDPs and refugees who fled the region; asks the Commission and EUSR Semneby to consider extending to Nagorno-Karabakh aid and information dissemination programmes as in Abkhazia and Ossetia;
42. Calls on the VP/HR to follow closely the developments in the region and to be actively involved in the conflict resolution processes; acknowledges the work of the Special Representative for the South Caucasus and expresses the hope that the High Representative will ensure its continuity and consistency; encourages the Council to consider the possible use of tools from the CSDP to step up its participation in the peace-building and conflict-management processes;
43. Calls on the Commission to explore the possibility of granting substantial financial and technical support to measures building confidence and promoting trust between and among the populations and to participate in rehabilitation and reconstruction in all conflict-affected regions, such as income-generating projects and projects targeting the socio-economic integration of IDPs and returnees and the rehabilitation of housing and aiming at dialogue and mediation, as well as to continue elaborating and supporting civil-society projects that aim to promote reconciliation and contacts between local populations and individuals;
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20 May 2010
(http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.)