Crisis Group: EU Must Engage More in Resolving Conflicts

To guarantee its own security, the EU must become more engaged in resolving the conflicts in the South Caucasus lest they ignite into full-fledged wars in Europe’s neighbourhood, the Brussels-based think-tank International Crisis Group (ICG) said in a report issued on March 20.
 
“Greater engagement is a challenge Brussels has only just begun to address. There have been a few promising steps, but there is a long way to go,” Sabine Freizer, ICG’s Caucasus Project Director, said.

“The EU is trying to define its role in a new neighbourhood which is neither at war nor at peace. If the EU fails to implement its strategic vision for a secure neighbourhood, its credibility in the region, and generally vis-а-vis Russia and the U.S., will suffer. More troublingly, if the South Caucasus conflicts continue to deteriorate, the EU may find itself unprepared for responding to wars among its neighbours”, Nicholas Whyte, Director of ICG’s Europe Program, said.

The ICG recommends the EU to raise the South Ossetian and Abkhaz conflicts at EU-Russia summits and other high-level dialogue forums.