EU states unsure how to handle Kazakhstan
ANDREW RETTMAN
05.12.2006 @ 12:19 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - EU member states have blocked until late 2007 a decision on letting Kazakhstan in 2009 chair Europe's pro-democracy club, the OSCE, with gas and uranium-rich Astana exposing foreign policy divisions in the European Union.
"There was no consensus, so the logical step was to make the decision next year. Among the EU states, some were opposed and others were more inclined to award the presidency now," a spokesman for Belgian foreign minister Karel De Gucht - who currently heads the OSCE - told EUobserver.
Mr Nazarbayev (l) meets Mr Barroso, who was happy to leave the thorny debate to EU member states (Photo: ec.europa.eu)
"We will say Kazakhstan must live up to human rights commitments and that the decision on the presidency will be made no later than the Madrid conference in December next year," he added, on the final statement to be approved by 56 OSCE foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on Tuesday (5 December).
Standing for the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe - the Vienna-based OSCE was set up in 1975 and currently does election monitoring across the ex-Soviet region, as well as border monitoring and conflict resolution work.
EU member states vote in the OSCE on the basis of a "common position" with a consensus of OSCE members needed to award the presidency, which - like the Olympic games - cannot be taken away once it is given two or more years in advance.
Germany, France, the Netherlands and Poland originally supported Kazakhstan's 2009 bid as a potential incentive for pro-democracy reform as well as a pragmatic way to improve relations and pave the way for future new gas pipelines under the Caspian Sea.
But the UK pushed for a 2011 date instead saying any earlier award would be premature, while the Czech republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Slovenia had even deeper misgivings about Kazakhstan's impact on the credibility of the OSCE.
"The energy supply possibility is a big pull for Germany, which will also make this region a major topic of its EU presidency next year," an EU diplomat said, with Berlin, EU top diplomat Javier Solana and the European Commission all currently preparing new policy blueprints for Central Asia.
"On the one hand, Kazakhstan could really help the OSCE get involved in institution building in this region," Kyrgyzstan-based International Crisis Group analyst Michael Hall explained. "But on the other hand it could make the OSCE a platform for repression."
First Borat, now this
The OSCE snub on human rights comes at the end of Kazakhstan president Nursultan Nazarbayev's personal visit to London and Brussels in the past few days, where the austere leader already had to face the indignity of press questions about the US film "Borat," which ridicules his country.
"Kazakhstan enjoys the peaceful co-existence of diverse people of over 130 nationalities and 46 religions. This is a very valuable experience that might be used by the OSCE," Mr Nazarbayev said in Brussels on Monday, adding that his "open" economy has tripled in size since 1999.
"These are the main reasons why Kazakhstan has the right to claim the chairmanship of the OSCE in 2009 and we still hold to that position," he stated. "And for us it's very important the European Union provides its support for Kazakhstan's candidature."
"I'm sorry, but the European Commission has absolutely no position on this, that's not our need to solve," European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso replied, washing his hands of the OSCE issue after signing a modest "memorandum of understanding" on energy cooperation with Astana.
Energy giant has poor record
Kazakhstan - almost the size of the EU but home to just 15 million people - will supply 20 percent of EU gas and oil "in future," predicted Mr Nazarbayev, who sees himself as a regional leader in terms of human rights and stability, next to regimes such as Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
But the Kazakh president's re-election in 2005 was deemed illegitimate by the OSCE itself and saw the murders of two high-profile opposition campaigners - Zamanbek Nurkadilov and Altynbek Sarsanbayev - which are still unsolved today.
When Uzbek soldiers machine-gunned at least 180 civilians in Andijan in May 2005, Mr Nazarbayev praised Tashkent's handling of events and called for military cooperation against "international terrorism" in contrast to then Slovenian-led OSCE's call for an international probe.
