Europees Parlement roept Rusland op officiële banden met Abchazië te herroepen en troepen terug te trekken (en)

After a previous debate on Georgia, held on 7 May in Strasbourg, the Parliament adopted a resolution on the situation in the country. The Parliament "expresses its deep disapproval at Russia's announcement that it would establish official ties with institutions within the separatist authorities of South Ossetia and Abkhazia," says the resolution adopted today by a large majority of MEPs (581 votes in favour, 50 against and 17absntentions) calling on Russia to "revoke this decision."

The resolution "urges the Russian Federation to immediately withdraw its additional troops in Abkhazia," and "takes the view that the present peacekeeping format must be revised since the Russian troops have lost their role of neutral and impartial peacekeepers." It therefore "calls on the Council to consider bolstering the international presence in the conflict zone by sending an ESDP border mission" to the region.

Message to Council: visa facilitation and frankness with Russia

The House calls on the Council and the Commission to "firmly raise the issues of Abkhazia and South Ossetia with their Russian counterparts at the forthcoming EU-Russia summit," which is to be held on 26-27 June. It also asks that they "speed up the opening of negotiations on the EU-Georgia visa regime in order to conclude the visa facilitation and readmission agreements with Georgia in the near future to ensure that citizens of Georgia are not disadvantaged in relation to those holding Russian passports in the separatist regions." 

A mixed review of Georgian elections

MEPs take note of the parliamentary elections held in Georgia on 21 May, noting "that overall the election day was calm and generally was assessed positively and that substantial progress has been made since the January presidential elections." Nevertheless, they also stress that "further efforts have to be made in close cooperation with the international community in order to address and solve all the problems identified in the electoral process caused by the inconsistent and incomplete implementation of the OSCE and Council of Europe standards, and to improve and consolidate Georgia's democratic achievements." They therefore call on Georgian authorities to "deal with all complaints about the electoral process in a transparent manner and to work on further improvement so that trust and confidence in the electoral process can increase further."

Speaking in the debate on 7 May Charles TANNOCK (EPP-ED, UK) said: "A flood of petrodollars is making Russia a resurgent power but, regrettably, it sees everything in zero-sum terms. Putin's foreign policy priority - to reconstruct something looking like the old Soviet Union - has been focused on what Russia patronisingly refers to as its `near abroad' - the former Soviet Republics in the Baltics, Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus, where Russia is determined to retain its sphere of influence. They are being punished for looking westwards towards NATO and the EU, rather than towards Moscow.

Georgia, under the Western-oriented reformist President Saakashvili, has suffered considerably from Russia's heavy-handedness. Aside from using trade and energy supplies as diplomatic weapons, Putin has consistently sought to undermine Georgia's territorial integrity through tacit support for the breakaway, self-styled republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The arrival of yet more Russian soldiers in Abkhazia - supposedly as peacekeepers but undoubtedly combat ready - and the shooting down of a Georgian drone recently has provocatively increased tension in the region."

Robert EVANS (PES, UK) said: "Russia has never accepted the territorial integrity of Georgia with respect to Abkhazia or South Ossetia. We know from what we have heard in recent weeks that Russian and Abkhazian separatists have apparently been involved in the spy plane incidents which have led to this rise in tension and we must all recognise that one thing has led on to another. I do not know all the diplomatic measures that are taking place, but I am concerned that the European Union is not doing enough to stop this escalating violence. Mrs Isler Béguin said a few minutes ago that history will not pardon us if we do nothing. Do nothing and the whole area could dissolve into a war - a war which no one will win.

So my message this afternoon - not just to this Parliament, but to Mr Lenar?i? for the Council and, indeed, to Commissioner Ferrero-Waldner - is to do everything within your means, at the highest level, to ensure that everyone, above all the Russians, understands how dangerous the moves are that are taking place in this area and that we have got to stop this escalation before we have another Balkan crisis.