South Caucasus in European Regional Context

The South Caucasus is an area of special interest of the European Union in terms of its geographical proximity and mature companies. This was the leitmotif of the two-day conference "The South Caucasus: Prospects for freedom, peace and prosperity", which is organized in Tbilisi by the German Foundation Friedrich Naumann "For Freedom " (FNS).

The Conference has become an integral part of the cycle of events dedicated to the 50th anniversary of FNS, which promotes the development of civil societies in 70 countries in collaboration with eight thousand local organizations, including the South Caucasus, where the Fund's first initiatives were developed in the second half of the 90s.

FNS has always helped to establish cooperation between governmental and non-governmental organizations in the region to achieve the welfare of the peoples of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, said the FNS project director for the South Caucasus, Yasmin Pamuk. "Freedom has become an ideal for a minority, but we want to make it ideal for the majority," she said.

The Fund, known as liberal, focuses on peace and prosperity on the basis of principles such as the rule of law, freedom of expression, and respect for universal human rights. "Society can not develop in violation of human rights and pluralism," said the Ambassador of Germany to Georgia Ortwin Hennick.

Former Defense Minister of the Netherlands Frederic Willem van Eekelen called 4 basic conditions for the existence of a free society - freedom of speech, freedom from fear, freedom of religion, freedom of the individual. He also noted that the priority for the EU is the stability in the world, including in the South Caucasus, which can be achieved through good democratic governance. It involves parliament, government and president reporting to the people, as well as accountability and transparency of public bodies.

According to van Eekelen, the EU's interest in promoting the Eastern Partnership program is dictated by the new conditions, when the issues of external and internal security are closely intertwined, such as the fight against terrorism, drug trafficking and organized crime.

The head of the Political, Press and Information Section of the EU Delegation in Georgia, Tobias Tiberg, also considered the development of democracy as an important factor in the formation of economic prosperity. "Association Agreement, a free trade zone, simplification of visa regime are the first steps that the EU offers its partners to pass on the way of welfare societies," he said.

Perfectly reviewing the situation in the South Caucasus, the FNS first regional project director, Wolfgang John, considers a priority of the EU in the region to encourage cooperation in frozen, but dangerous conflicts. "The European experience of peaceful coexistence is necessary to bring to the Caucasus, which is an important center for the transit of goods and ideas," he said.

Dr. John noted that there are many examples of the desire for peaceful coexistence in the region. One of these important initiatives he called the Potsdam Declaration of three liberal parties from the South Caucasus - Musavat, Armenian National Movement and the Republican Party of Georgia, which have assumed the responsibility for the promotion of democratic values ??and the formation of the region as a zone of peace and prosperity.

One of the signatories of this document, chairman of the Musavat Party Isa Gambar said that the ideas put forward in Potsdam Declaration in 2010 are reflected in reality today. "Those who did not want to accept our joint initiative, today no longer dispute the idea of the inevitability of regional cooperation, which means that in the South Caucasus there are important changes that will lead in the near future to implement the idea of a single Caucasian House in the European context," Gambar stressed. -0-