Assita Kanko: “The energy deal with Azerbaijan must not dissuade the EU from taking a hard line in Nagorno-Karabakh”

With Azerbaijan’s attack in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, the conflict with Armenia has flared up again in all its intensity. The issue was raised with urgency in the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, where MEP Assita Kanko expressed her concern and called on the EU to take action: “Azerbaijan’s attack amounts to ethnic cleansing. The EU cannot look away and must take firm action against this. But what means of exerting pressure do we still have? How free are the EU’s hands after last year’s energy deal with Azerbaijan?”

The situation in Nagorno-Karabakh has been worrying for a long time. Due to the blockade of the Lachin Corridor, the only access road to the region, there is an acute shortage of food, medicine and fuel among the local population. Since the war in 2020, tensions have continued and the conflict is high on the international agenda. Unfortunately, little progress has been made. “The efforts of Council President Charles Michel and High Representative Josep Borrell to bring about a diplomatic solution are making little impression in Azerbaijan. That much is clear. But has the European Commission not painted the EU into a corner because of its energy dependence?” Kanko wonders.

Strategic energy deal

In July 2022, European Commission President Von der Leyen concluded a strategic energy deal with Azerbaijan for the supply of gas. “The EU needs deals. These are geopolitically important for our international position. But that cannot mean that the EU’s hands are tied. Ecological dogmatism must thus be reconsidered, and investing in nuclear power stations is vital. We must bear that in mind. The energy deal with Azerbaijan must not dissuade us from taking a hard line and making our European voice heard loudly in this conflict.”

European sanctions and security guarantees

High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell has already called for a cessation of violence and for the dialogue between the two countries to be restarted. “Who still listens to Borrell? The EU must do more than just call for reasonableness and dialogue. What sanctions is the EU prepared to impose? What security guarantees will the EU support for the 120,000 ethnic Armenians in the affected area? We must stop being naive and do everything in our power to put an end to this shameful explosion of violence. Looking on passively makes us complicit,” Assita Kanko made clear during the debate.

European diplomacy is failing

The EU diplomatic service, which came to give information to the Foreign Affairs Committee, stated during the question and answer session that the EU had done what it could, pointing an accusing finger at the Russian troops present who did nothing to keep the peace in the region. Assita Kanko is very disappointed by this reaction: “How unfathomably naive do you have to be to count on Russia as a guardian of the peace? Will the EU never learn? European diplomacy has failed. This escalation has been coming for months. The local population is in urgent need of European decisiveness and concrete help. Let’s get to work on this quickly.”