Yesterday the European Parliament adopted a report, which although doesn’t directly relate to Armenia but may have certain effect on the parties of the process of the NKR resolution. In particular the report urges the European Commission to cut the financial support of the states, the governments of which do not respect and comply with the criteria of human rights and democracy. “The European Union should immediately and without hesitance apply reasonable sanctions on the key officials of the failed countries but in the meantime it should support the people of these states,” reads the report, which also suggests that instead of funding authoritarian government they should fund the civil society and independent media outlets, which struggle for the sake of democracy. “The sanctions against the countries, who fail abiding with democratic standards, must be applied in a coordinated manner and reasonably. Those should also be applied with the broad participation of the public,” urged the European Commission. Besides that, the report urges the European Commission and the Member states of the EU to work harder to have the neighbors of the EU ratify the Rome Status and fully cooperate with the International Court of Hague. “The governments should be accountable for violating the human rights, bad governance, corruption and for wasting the national resources,” reads the report. This document is especially noteworthy in the light of the statement of the EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, Catherine Ashton made two days ago. “Azerbaijan and Armenia need to redouble their efforts to find an agreement before the end of the year. This will then happen before domestic priorities take over before 2012," Catherine Ashton said by connecting the NKR resolution with the Eastern Partnership Program. “Whatever is decided during these negotiations it majorly relates to the EU. And we wish to see certain progress prior to the Eastern Partnership Summit, which is planned in Warsaw in September… After the regulation not only the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan will be opened but also the border between Armenia and Turkey. Railroads and oil pipelines can be constructed in the possibly short time and can link the countries of the region very tight to each other. And ultimately South Caucasus can become what it was meant to become – a bridge between Europe and Asia,” she said.
