BAKU TODAY 19/04/2006 22:36

New German Foreign Political Initiative Means "Attack On the Caucasus"

German "Welt" newspaper reported, citing official circles, about the preparation of a German foreign political initiative aimed at changing "eastern policy of the European Union." The initiative will be announced by German Chancellor Angela Merkel on May 11 in Bundestag.

One of the key focuses for the German chairmanship of the EU, which will begin in January 2007, will be energy problems. Berlin intends to begin a foreign political "attack on the Caucasus and bring it closer to Europe," writes the newspaper. This region must occupy a central place in the "new eastern policy of the EU."
Roland Getz, an expert from the German Institute of International Policy and Security, said that the Caucasus and Central Asia will become one of the European Union's priorities during Germany's chairmanship. Europe must receive new alternative sources of oil and gas and should not only be dependent on deliveries from Africa and Russia. But we should not overestimate the resources of the Caucasian region, said Getz.

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