1 / 22

On February 22, the works of the meetings of the Committees of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly began, where the members of parliaments of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Ukraine from the Eastern Partnership countries, as well as the Political Groups of the European Parliament took part in them.

The Head of the Delegation of the RA National Assembly to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly Maria Karapetyan welcomed the participants of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly wishing them effective work.

After approving the agenda, a discussion on the theme “The geopolitical security in the South Caucasus” was held in the Committee on Political Affairs, Human Rights and Democracy of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly.

At the discussion of the agenda item the Member of the European Parliament Helmut Geuking touched upon the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. According to him, the war of 2020 abruptly changed the situation in the region. He has informed that the delegation of Azerbaijan also takes part in the works of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly. In this context Helmut Geuking expressed that the first visit to Armenia after the war and the participation in the works of the Assembly would promote the formation of the mutual understanding and the atmosphere of trust.

The Head of the Delegation of the RA National Assembly to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly Maria Karapetyan underlined that the Nagorno Karabakh issue had not been resolved yet. She pointed out the involvement of the international players in the solution of the problem and highlighted the establishment of the stable peace in the region. Maria Karapetyan raised the issues of repatriation of prisoners of war and other held persons being in Azerbaijan and the protection of the cultural heritage in Artsakh.

The Chair of the RA NA Standing Committee on European Integration, the deputy of the Civil Contract Faction Arman Yeghoyan, the deputies of the RA NA Armenia Faction Artur Ghazinyan, Artur Khachatryan and Anna Grigoryan delivered speeches on the theme.

The Head of the Delegation for the Relations with the South Caucasus in the European Parliament Marina Kaljurand said: “Let me very distinctly say that the European Parliament has not recognized the final results of the war. We have distinctly announced that the war never can be considered an acceptable solution. If we really speak about the stable, long-term peace, then it is possible to reach through negotiations within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group. The war is not a solution. We, as members of the European Parliament, have come here to help you and we cannot resolve your problems instead of you. You should solve the problems, but we are ready to help you.”

During the discussion ideas were exchanged on the regional and international security and stability issues, the developments taking place in the region, the deblockading of the ways of communication, the demarcation and delimitation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, the dialogue between Armenia and Turkey.

Independent analysts of Armenia and Azerbaijan, the EU experts presented their viewpoints on the theme, highlighting the discussion in such format and observing it as a peculiar platform of resuming a dialogue.

The speakers also referred to the security and political situation, democratic reforms in the EU and the Eastern Partnership Region.

At the Committee on Energy Security the report “Energy security challenges and resilience within the Eastern Partnership in the context of the European Green Deal and clean energy transition” was discussed. The experts of the European Union exchanged their views on the theme. The deputies of the RA NA Civil Contract Faction Babken Tunyan and Meri Galstyan gave speeches.