Mathias Dornfeldt: "European Parliament’s resolution on Azerbaijan destabilizes the South Caucasus"

The head of the Berlin Institute for European Studies, Mathias Dornfeldt, in an interview to Vestnik Kavkaza  assessed the events in Europe linked with the influx of refugees, as well as the recent unprecedented tough resolution of the European Parliament on Azerbaijan.

- The problem of refugees and the Middle East escalation in recent months has become a central theme of European politics. How do you assess the current situation at the moment?

- We are faced with the largest refugee crisis since the end of World War II. Most people are fleeing from the civil war in Syria, as well as from the instability in Iraq and Libya. Politicians have only now begun to realize that we need to make more efforts and more actively contribute to the resolution of the Syrian conflict. Chancellor Angela Merkel is no longer ruling out the possibility of talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. But it should have happened earlier, to save the lives of many people.

The EU has not been and is still not ready for such an influx of refugees. The Dublin Mechanism today is nothing more than a waste of paper, and the so-called ‘front-line’ EU states feel abandoned. Solidarity within Europe is not observed either. Only a few countries have taken on themselves the main burden of the problems, Germany, the Scandinavian countries and Hungary are among them. Hungary is not able to cope with the influx of people and the law-enforcement bodies are protecting its borders with Serbia and Croatia, for which the Hungarians are criticized, and this is extremely unfair in my opinion.

- What can you say about the position of Germany in this situation?

- The Chancellor of Germany and some German politicians are sending the wrong signals, accepting the refugees in unlimited quantities. Of course, people in need should be helped, but Germany is neither able to accept everyone who wants to come, nor able to integrate all of them.

The stable policy of the EU and Germany in this regard is aimed at supporting the refugees in the states which are in the immediate vicinity of the crisis countries, in order for the people who have escaped from war to be able to live there in normal conditions until the end of the war. I refer to the countries of Turkey, Pakistan, Lebanon and Jordan.

In addition, the quota for refugees should be distributed not only between the EU member states, but also between the countries which are in the Gulf Cooperation Council, especially Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Also, the United States and Canada should be involved in addressing the crisis. In the end, after all, the American intervention in Iraq opened a Middle East Pandora's box. The US bears some responsibility for the current refugee crisis.

- Along with the Middle East issue occupying European politicians today,  the EU considers one of its priorities to be cooperation with the post-Soviet countries, in particular with the countries of the Eastern Partnership. How do you assess progress in this direction?

- To answer this question, I cannot ignore the European Parliament's resolution on Azerbaijan from September 9th 2015. This resolution harms not only the relations between the EU and Azerbaijan, but it is also a destabilizing factor for the entire South Caucasus. Brussels must stop the practice of applying double standards in matters of the democratic development of Azerbaijan and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. European politicians turn a blind eye to many things in cases of other post-Soviet states.

Instead of making such a resolution it is necessary, finally, to send constructive signals to Eurasia. Such signals would be, for example, visa facilitation and, in the case of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, the total abolition of the Schengen Zone. Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan have a higher GDP per capita than many Eastern European countries. At the same time, both countries have relatively low populations. There should not be a fear of economic migration from the Caspian states.

- As you mentioned, the resolution also contains threats of targeted sanctions against Azerbaijani officials. Are these threats real?

- I do not think it will come to that. What will it change? Sanctions rarely achieve their goals. In addition, Azerbaijan is an important partner of the EU in the field of energy cooperation. Official Baku, in the case of the imposition of sanctions, will turn away from the West to a certain degree and take retaliatory measures to protect Azerbaijan from unfair steps.