March 23, 2012 - 16:53 AMT
Expert: EU’s and France’s stances on Karabakh differ

A senior fellow at the Institute of Political and Social Studies of the Black Sea and Caspian region commented on the document on Armenia adopted by the European Parliament proposing to replace France’s mandate in OSCE Minsk Group on Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement with that of the European Union.

In conversation with a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter, Andrei Areshev noted that the decision is conditioned by EU’s wish to advance its positions in the region.

According to the expert, though France as EU member-state de facto represented EU’s stance, there was certain disjuncture between positions of France and the rest of EU member states which sparked discontent in European lobbies. The fact served reason for the issue to be put to vote and likely to be approved under pressure from Brussels.

Areshev further deemed changes in Karabakh conflict resolution hardly probable, although the position of EU member-states on the issue differs.