"South Caucasus & Euronest"

On October 30 and 31, the Armenian Parliament hosted a session of the Inter-Parliamentary Committee EU-Armenia. This was a first meeting since the course of Armenian foreign policy has changed. This new course was announced by the Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan on September 3, 2013 when he claimed that Armenia will strive to enter the Customs Union, which was founded by Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus. This decision was published after discussions with the President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. However, membership in the Customs Union is not compatible with a free trade agreement which has been negotiated between the European Union and Armenia over the last three and a half years. The President Sargsyan announced this change without consulting it neither with the Government nor with the Parliament. This act has naturally aroused a great indignation among the opposition and citizens.

Milan Cabrnoch has initiated a series of meetings with a Minister of Foreign Affairs Edward Nalbandian who was defending the President's decision and trying to explain that it could not have been such a surprise since Armenia has been cooperating with Russia for a long period of time. That is true, in spring Armenia signed an agreement with Russia on location of Russian troops on its territory until the year 2044. But this act was considered as a necessity otherwise if the country not get any support from the Russian army, within a few days Armenia would loose the area of Nagorno-Karabakh, which was conquered in a war with Azerbaijan in the early 90s of the 20th century.

The meetings were followed by an official lunch with the Ambassador of the EU in Armenia Traian Hristea and later on by a meeting with the Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan (not a relative of the president, same names are only a coincidence) who defended a new foreign policy by a statement that we need to diversify foreign relations as well as to ensure a security of the country which has closed borders with Azerbaijan and Turkey. Milan Cabrnoch had an opportunity to meet in the Parliament the Chairman Hovik Abrahamyan who supported arguments of the Prime Minister as well as of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. He was also negotiating the form of a joint statement with the head of the EU-Armenia Inter-Parliamentary Committee.

In the evening Milan Cabrnoch had an official meeting with the President Serzh Sargsyan who explained that joining the Customs Union and maintaining cooperation with the European Union is the best choice Armenia can make. The first meeting day was concluded by a dinner which was attended by members of the EU-Armenia Inter-Parliamentary Committee. The European Parliament delegation was unfortunately represented solely by its chairman Milan Cabrnoch, as other MEPs did not manage to reschedule their agendas for this important business trip.

On Thursday October 31 Milan Cabrnoch met several representatives of Armenian NGOs. As presumed, they criticised the change in the Armenian foreign policy and considered such change as unconstitutional. Particularly they have emphasised the fact that these changes have not been approved by the Parliament.

Later on followed meetings in the Parliament with several representatives of all political parties represented in the Parliament. The representatives of the opposition strongly criticised not only president's decision but also the fact that he took such decision without any discussion it in the Parliament. It should be also noted that until today the Armenian Parliament does not have any document stating the country's accession to the Customs Union. At the end of the meeting was held a press conference where Milan Cabrnoch and Samvel Farmanyan presented their joint statement, which could be found also attached.

All Armenian representatives clearly declared their willingness to continue in cooperation with the European Union, particularly in the area of sector reforms. Milan Cabrnoch has repeatedly emphasised a need to find a new way for cooperation since the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement is currently outdated and the cooperation between Armenia and the European Union has gone forward since its sign-off in the year 1999.
In the near future it will be very interesting to follow the results of the Summit in Vilnius which will be held on November 28 and 29. This summit should also bring forward discussions on further forms of cooperation between Armenia and the European Union.

October 15, 2013

Dear Mr Panek,

Yesterday I received a soft copy of your undated open letter relating to the presidential elections in Azerbaijan.

I thank you hereby for your interest in my work and for providing your opinions.

Since year 2009, I act as a chairman of the permanent delegation at the European Parliament which cooperates with parliaments in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. At the same time I am a member of the Parliamentary Assembly EURONEST whose members are also parliamentarians of the above mentioned countries, including Ukraine and Moldova. The assembly only misses representatives of the Parliament in Belarus.

Euronest partnership is not a sole activity between Azerbaijan and the European Union. Azerbaijan concluded several agreements with the EU and further ones are being prepared. The aim of these agreements is to improve and enhance cooperation, as well as to promote democratic reforms, including further development of democracy and gaining more respect for human rights in Azerbaijan.

I can only agree with you that some of the recent observation missions on the presidential elections in Azerbaijan came to a different conclusion. For several years I have been taking part in observation missions repeatedly as a representative of the European Parliament and I have already experienced similar situation several times. Furthermore, I led several EP observation missions myself.

Fundamentally, I have to reject that neither myself nor my colleagues, Members of the European Parliament, would let themselves to "become a propaganda tool". Such statement is naive, unwise and shows that the author of such statement does not possess a basic knowledge of the work on observation missions.

I did not notice that some of the media would misinterpret my statements in relation to the presidential elections in Azerbaijan. In order to prevent this situation, I published my assessment, as well as the official statement of a joint report on the observation mission of the European Parliament and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on my website cabrnoch.cz.

Our observation mission commented on real records that we observed during the mission. On the other hand, we did not have the opportunity to observe personally the pre-election campaign unlike the workers on long-term observation mission. Therefore we do not assess it in our report. Furthermore we did not evaluate neither laws in Azerbaijan nor their compliance or non-compliance with European standards.

Given that in the past I had the opportunity to observe elections personally not only in Azerbaijan, I have the possibility to compare. Therefore I evaluate these presidential election, the election day itself and its eve, as a significant improvement. During the observation we have not encountered intimidation of voters or limiting their freedom of choice. The electoral process was transparent, none of the dozens of local observers, including many representatives of opposition political parties or candidates, had complained about any violation of the freedom of elections.

I am aware that the situation in Azerbaijan is far from perfect. We have expressed this opinion repeatedly, not only during our meetings of the Permanent Delegation under my leadership, but also in other documents of the European Parliament. We strive to improve this situation. We continuously support Azerbaijan in its way to democracy. But it also has to be understood that our support cannot be based solely on criticism and condemn.

Regarding your questions:

1 ) I cannot judge why the OSCE report (previously Parliamentary Assembly OSCE and ODIHR ) could potentially be wrong. I can only declare that the European Parliament delegation and a delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted its joint report. In this report we summarise our own observations which in some cases differ from the observation and evaluation of our fellow colleagues from the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE and ODIHR.

2 ) During our observation mission I did not provide any public statement regarding these elections. It would be in conflict with the rules of the observation mission which presents the results of its observations at a press conference on the following day after the elections.

3 ) Our observation mission was organised, financed and logistically secured solely by the European Parliament.

4 ) During the observation, neither before nor afterwards, I did not receive any honorarium or present.

In conclusion, I would like to inform you that all seven Members of the European Parliament participating in the observation mission, have the same opinion on the evaluation of the presidential elections. In the observation mission were involved MEPs elected in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Italy, Germany, Poland and Romania. All in all, these people are respected politicians who are familiar with the Caucasus problematics and who are experienced in observing elections.

I am pleased that you expressed your interest in my work at the European Parliament, particularly in a delegation that I lead myself and also in the observation mission during the presidential elections in Azerbaijan. If you were interested, I would be very happy to meet you personally and we can take the opportunity to discuss this topic. I would be pleased to share my experience and opinions with you.

I wish you a lot of successes for future work in People in Need.

Best regards

Milan Cabrnoch

On Tuesday May 7, 2013 I had the opportunity to meet the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, a French Member of the Parliament Jean-Claude Mignon in Brussels. The reason why this representative of an important European institution came to visit me was to discuss an improvement in cooperation with Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe would like to actively take part in improvement of Nagorno-Karabakh situation. It concerns approximately one fifth of the Azerbaijani area which is nowadays controlled by Armenia.

Both countries involved are regular members of the Council of Europe. The President of the Parliamentary Assembly meets leaders of both delegations and takes concern in organizing joint meeting of these two delegations. By a coincidence these two countries will hold a chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of Council of Europe in near future.

As a Chair of the Delegation to the EU-Armenia, EU-Azerbaijan and EU-Georgia Parliamentary Cooperation Committees I really did welcome President´s interest on an exchange of information and coordination of process in both institutions. Our common objective is to contribute to development of this more than 20-years frozen conflict.

During our debate we also discussed a current political situation in the third country of the South Caucasus, Georgia. There we have witnessed a tense coexistence of a new elected government and a president whose party currently stands in opposition.

The important part of this inter-institutional cooperation is to support democratic elections. Both institutions send their own representatives to both countries in order to observe elections. I also had the opportunity to take part in many of these observations. Recently I observed parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan and Armenia.

In October 2012 I was sent for a mission to Georgia where I acted as a Chair of the European Parliament Delegation which observed parliamentary elections. Due to the same reason I went also to Armenia where were recently held presidential elections. With Jean-Claude Mignon we came to a conclusion that both institutions need to improve its coordination related to these missions.

Dear colleagues,

I had the honour to Chair the EP Election Observation Delegation that observed the Presidential elections inArmenialast 18 February.

The European Parliament Election Observation Delegation was also composed of Mr. Joachim ZELLER, Ms Elena BĂSESCU, Ms Eva JOLY and Mr. Ryszard CZARNECKI. I would like to thank them for their excellent cooperation during this delegation.

My report today will focus on two issues: The Presidential Election inArmenia, and the international cooperation in the framework of the International Election Observation Missions.

-         Concerning past presidential elections inArmenia, I have to recall that these elections were seen as a test for the democratic credentials of the country. The European Parliament has clearly said in its resolution of April 2012 on the negotiations of the EU-Armenia Association Agreement, that the Parliament considers free and fair elections, more transparent elections, elections in line with International and European standards, of the utmost importance for the development of EU-Armenia relations.

-         My second point to highlight today, concerns the co-operation in the framework of the International Election Observation Mission. These International Missions are the assurance that the international community will speak with one voice in the context of election observation.  Usually, the Parliamentary Assemblies of the Council of Europe and of the OSCE are also part of this International Mission. InArmenia, the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE decided not to participate in the IEOM, thus confirming, and putting into practice, the decision of the OSCE/PA Bureau at its meeting inDublinin December 2012, to consider the Co-operation Agreement with OSCE/ODIHR no longer valid.

I will comeback to this later. I would now focus on the Armenian Presidential Election.

What are then the conclusions and the possibilities for follow-up of this Election?

InArmenia, the preliminary conclusions of the international election observationMissiondescribed a well administered election, characterized by respect for fundamental freedoms. Contestants were able to campaign without impediment. Public television and radio complied with their legal obligation to provide free airtime and balanced coverage of all candidates.

However, during the electoral campaign, the misuse of administrative resources distorted the distinction between the state and the ruling party which is at odds with the OSCE Copenhagen Document, one of the main International Standards for elections.

I regret the absence of real competition, mainly due to the decision of three of the main parties do not compete in the election.

After the publication of the official results indicating that incumbent President Serzh Sargsyan was re-elected in the first round, the OSCE/ODIHR long-term Election Observation Mission issued a post election interim report, raising concerning about the close correlation, in a significant number of polling stations,  between the voter turnout and the number of votes for the incumbent.

The Presidential candidate Raffi Hovannisyan has contested the results of the election and appealed to theConstitutional Court. On 14 March 2013, the Court rejected this appeal and thus approved the validity of the elections.

In my speech at the Press Conference of the International Election Observation Mission, I emphasized the importance that the European Parliament attaches to the follow up of the recommendations of the International Election Observation missions. I welcomed the good will that the authorities have showed in this regard after the last parliamentary elections, hoping to see same efforts in implementing the recommendations that the ODIHR will issue after the presidential elections, through an even more inclusive process that would involve all the relevant stakeholders in the society.

I urge the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Delegation to the EU-Armenia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee to follow-up closely the conclusions and recommendations of the Election Observation Mission report and the answer given by Armenian Authorities. As I said in my speech after the Election Day, it is key that Armenian authorities deliver on important results, as regards to promoting democratic, economic and social reforms, essential for the conclusion of the EU-Armenia Association Agreement, and also for restoring faith in the future electoral processes.

I would finish by sharing with you my deep concern about the position of the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE which I find unfortunate and damageable on various levels:

• The position of the Bureau of the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE harms the capacity of the  international community to speak with one voice;
• The tension between Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE and ODIHR must be viewed in the context of the long-standing efforts by a few OSCE participating States (Russia,Kazakhstan,Belarus,Armenia,Kyrgyzstan,TajikistanandUzbekistan) to weaken ODIHR, particularly its election observation capacity. The European Parliament has appealed several times to OSCE to reaffirm and preserve the independence of the OSCE/ODIHR and to further strengthen its role and capacity as the leading OSCE institution responsible for election observation; 
• Finally, the position of the Bureau of the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE jeopardises multilateral cooperation at European level, a cause which the European Parliament has always defended, on issues of the importance of democracy and rule of law.

The Democracy Support and Election Coordination Group, co-chaired by Elmar Brok, is holding at its meeting on 26 March an in-depth exchange of views on EP election observation in the OSCE area, to be led by VP Edward McMillan-Scott. I hope that the AFET and the DEG will be able to identify ways to address this unfortunate situation.

I thank you for your attention.  

Milan Cabrnoch

The European Parliament is ready to support Armenia´s progress on democratic reforms, Milan Cabrnoch, the Head of the European Parliament delegation told reporters in Yerevan.

According to the European observer, the elections day was peaceful, and was preceded by a peaceful campaign.

He said the European Parliament attaches great importance to the implementation of recommendations of international experts, including the outcome of the previous day´s elections.

Milan Cabrnoch reminded that Armenia held parliamentary and presidential elections both in less than a year timespan, and significantly improved the process. The representative of the European Parliament stressed importance of progress on democratic reforms in Armenia in terms of the negotiations on the Association Agreement and restoration of confidence in the electoral process.

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