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The Eastern Partnership program logically hit a dead end, Andrejs Mamikins, a member of the European Parliament, said in an interview with analytical portal RuBaltic.Ru
He said three Eastern Partnership countries–-Azerbaijan, Armenian and Belarus–-stated their readiness to support only the EU’s calls for peace.
“As we hurt Azerbaijan, it has broken off all contacts in the framework of inter-parliamentary cooperation. The Eastern Partnership program logically hit a dead end after Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova signed an association agreement with the European Union,” Mamikins emphasized.
The MEP said a new program should be developed, stressing the importance of normalizing relations with Azerbaijan.
“First of all, let’s apologize to Azerbaijan. Let’s say that, yes, there are problems with human rights and freedom of the media in Azerbaijan, but we, the European Parliament, said this to Baku in a disrespectful manner. We have to think of something new for Baku. What does Azerbaijan mean to the European Parliament? Does it merely mean an inexpensive source of gas? Or do we consider Azerbaijan an important actor and trust in this country with regard to issues like countering terrorism?
We—European Union countries—are unable to define what we want from Eastern Partnership countries. Nor are able to give post-Soviet countries something in the current form of Eastern Partnership,” he added.
Apa.az
