European Neighbourhood Policy in relations with Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia

Evropska sosedska politika (v nadaljevanju ESP) je politika urejanja odnosov s sosednjimi državami EU, ki jim ni bilo ponujeno članstvo v EU. Na Južnem Kavkazu, kjer so po letu 1991 nastale države Azerbajdžan, Gruzija, Armenija, se je sosedska politika okrepila po letu 2003, ko se je spremenila politična struktura v Gruziji in, ko se je s pridružitvijo Romunije in Bolgarije EU širila še bolj proti vzhodu. Velik del »evropeizacije« te regije temelji na širjenju pojma EU »kot edino pravega« razvoja družbe s pomočjo človekovih pravic in svoboščin, demokracije, liberalizacije, urejenega pravnega reda in prostovoljnega skupnega sodelovanja ter na postopni integraciji teh držav v politični, pravni in gospodarski red EU. V magistrski nalogi iščem odgovor na vprašanje ali je ta način promocije evropskih vrednot učinkovit za povezovanje z vsemi sosednjimi državami ali pa utegne imeti negativne posledice v odnosih z njimi. S pravno, gospodarsko in politično analizo evropske sosedske politike v Armeniji, Gruziji in Azerbajdžanu, spoznavanjem njenih prednosti in slabosti, ugotavljam perspektive za prihodnji razvoj. Za oblikovanje ključnih vidikov povezovanja je pomembno poznavanje zgodovinskih, etničnih, geografskih, kulturnih in političnih razlik ter poznavanje problematike območij z velikim varnostnim tveganjem kot so Gorski Karabah, Južna Osetija in Abhazija. Države Armenija, Azerbajdžan in Gruzija se nahajajo na pomembnem območju, kjer se prepletajo geostrateški interesi Rusije, ZDA, Turčije, Irana in v zadnjem času tudi Kitajske. EU se srečuje z novimi izzivi, med katerimi vedno večjo vlogo igra njena sosedska politika do tretjih držav. Ker je v primeru Južnega Kavkaza splošno zaznati obširnost evropskih virov, t. j. dogovorov in politik (pridružitveni sporazumi, sporazumi o partnerstvu in sodelovanju, finančni instrumenti, Vzhodno partnerstvo, Sinergija Črnega morja, sporazumi po sektorjih), v nalogi ugotavljam, ali bi bilo potrebno vzpostaviti enotnejšo in s tem preglednejšo sosedsko politiko do vsake posamezne države.The European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) is an instrument for governing relations with the EU’s neighbourhood countries which are not to become members of the EU. In the South Caucasus, where Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia declared independence in 1991, the ENP was strengthened after 2003 with change of political structure in Georgia and after EU’s enlargement further to the east with joinder of Romania and Bulgaria. A big part of Europeanisation of this region is based on promotion of the EU’s values as being »the only right way« of developing societies, through strengthening human rights and liberties, democracy, liberalisation, the rule of law, voluntary cooperation and gradual integration of these countries into the EU’s political, legal and economic framework. In this master’s thesis I am looking for an answer to a question whether such way of promoting European values will result in cooperation with all the neighbouring countries or whether it might bring negative consequences in the EU’s relationship with them. With legal, economic and political analysis of the ENP in Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan and with identification of the ENP’s advantages and disadvantages, I am trying to find possibilities for its further development. Understanding historic, ethnic, geographic, cultural and political differences and understanding problems coming from areas considered major security risks, such as Nagorno-Karabakh, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, is important for developing key areas of cooperation. Countries Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia are located in the important area where geostrategic interests of Russia, USA, Turkey, Iran and recently China intersect. The EU has been facing new challenges, one of them being the increasing importance of its policy towards the neighbouring countries. As there has been a significant amount of European sources, such as arrangements and politics (e.g. association agreements, partnership and cooperation agreements, financial instruments, Eastern Partnership, Black Sea Synergy, sectoral agreements) in the South Caucasus, I am discussing in this thesis whether there should be a more unified and consequently more transparent neighbourhood policy for each partner country