Six Concrete Steps for the EU to Take in Nagorno-Karabakh

The EU must become actively involved in trying to find a solution to the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, which flared up again on April 2, killing dozens, according to two policy experts, commonspace.eu reports.

Dennis Sammut, director of LINKS, and Amanda Paul, a senior policy analyst, outlined six concrete steps the EU can take, in a paper for the European Policy Centre in Brussels:

• The EU should demand to be formally represented within the wider Minsk Group, through the EU member state holding the rotating EU presidency

• The EU should consider the Karabakh conflict an essential part of the its political dialogue with Armenia and Azerbaijan, not bypassed to make things easier

• The EU should appoint military liaison officers in Baku and Yerevan

• The EU should engage with civil society through instruments such as the EPNK (The European Partnership for the Peaceful Settlement of the Conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh)

• The EU should ensure member state positions on Karabakh are better synchronised

• The EU should coordinate and consult with other regional stake holders, including Russia, Turkey and Iran