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A Polish ruling-party MEP has defended his Azerbaijan-friendly vote, whilst EU assist slips within the wake of its “ethnic cleaning”.
Tomasz Poręba was certainly one of simply 9 MEPs who voted in opposition to a European Parliament (EP) decision on Thursday (5 October) condemning Azerbaijan’s ruthlessness in opposition to ethnic Armenians.
The decision sailed by means of with 491 votes in favour.
It spoke of an “unjustified navy assault” by Azerbaijan on the ethnic Armenian exclave of Nagorno-Karabakh on 19 September.
It additionally accused Azerbaijan president Ilham Aliyev of “ethnic cleaning” after some 100,000 Armenians fled his armed forces.
“The hospitals … usually are not functioning, the medical personnel left, the water board authorities left, the director of the morgue additionally left,” the Worldwide Committee of the Purple Cross (ICRC) advised Reuters on Tuesday, talking of the Nagorno-Karabakh capital, Stepanakert.
“So this situation, the scene is kind of surreal,” the ICRC stated.
Out of the 9 no-voters in Brussels on Thursday, three MEPs from the eurosceptic Identification and Democracy (ID) group voted not due to Azerbaijan’s actions, however as a result of ID felt EU parliament foreign-policy resolutions have been “silly” in precept, an ID spokesman advised EUobserver.
This put Poręba, who defended Baku on substance, in a fair smaller minority, politically talking.
“By way of in the present day’s voting, for my part, the decision is extraordinarily one-sided and takes into consideration the arguments of just one facet of the battle,” he stated by e mail.
The opposite no-voters have been Latvian socialist Andrew Ameriks, Bulgarian Christian Democrat Asim Ademov, former Romaninan president Traian Băsescu, Dutch far-right MEP Marcel De Graaff, and Bulgarian liberal Ilhan Kyuchyuk.
They did not instantly reply to EUobserver’s questions.
Most of Azerbaijan’s EU pals additionally saved a low profile in a parliament debate in Brussels on 20 September, when no one took the ground in Aliyev’s defence.
In the meantime, Poręba was amongst a handful of MEPs who visited Nagorno-Karabakh with the assistance of Aliyev’s EU embassy within the buildup to his assault.
Ameriks, who additionally voted no on Thursday, additionally went on journeys there.
However the different two who visited the area — Slovenian Christian Democrat Franc Bogovič and German liberal Engin Eroglu — backed the Aliyev-critical textual content in what regarded like a change of coronary heart.
The EP movement additionally referred to as for “suspension of all imports of oil and fuel from Azerbaijan to the EU within the occasion of navy aggression in opposition to Armenian territorial integrity”.
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Imports from Azerbaijan to the EU soared by 40 % final yr, regardless that they nonetheless accounted for for simply three % of Europe’s want.
MEPs’ resolutions are non-binding on EU nations, which take selections on sanctions by consensus.
However the EU overseas service has drafted proposals for Azerbaijan sanctions, in response to Reuters, in a transfer which signifies a groundswell of assist from influential member states, together with the Netherlands.
These embody a halt to high-level conferences and, probably, focused blacklists.
“In case critical human rights violations are dedicated [against Armenians], restrictive measures in opposition to people accountable for such violations may very well be envisaged,” the draft EU proposal stated.
For its half, the European Fee had cultivated nearer ties with Aliyev previous to his newest assault in its seek for extra non-Russian fuel.
However because the EU wonders how one can deal with him if he makes use of additional violence, Poręba gave an perception into Polish considering on the problem.
The MEP, from the ruling Legislation and Justice (PiS) get together, stated: “Former Polish president Lech Kaczyński, whose coverage I like, handled relations with Azerbaijan as strategic within the dimension of vitality safety of Poland and Europe”.
“Poland is constructing its place on this area. For instance, subsequent week a consultant workplace of 20 main Polish firms shall be opened in Baku,” he added.
The nationalist-populist PiS is preventing re-election on 15 October and has larded its marketing campaign with a Poland-first message, proper right down to bashing even Ukrainian refugees.
And even when Poręba stood out as the one PiS euro-deputy who voted no, the abstention record advised a story of Polish quietism on Armenia’s nationwide tragedy.
It additionally indicated Poland won’t be prepared to again any EU sanctions in opposition to its “strategic” good friend.
The record of Polish ruling-party MEPs who sat on the fence of what the overwhelming majority of Europeans noticed as “ethnic cleaning” included former PiS prime minister Beata Szydło and two former overseas ministers, Anna Fotyga and Witold Waszczykowski — in one other instance of the Poland-first strategy.
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