Marie Anne Isler Béguin, on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group. – (FR) Mr President, Commissioner, I am grateful to Mr Tannock, who took up the torch on this report, for his availability and his willingness to listen with regard to the very complex issues that arise when defining the neighbourhood policy.

The neighbourhood policy became a necessity with the arrival of the new Member States and, in involving all the bordering countries to the East around the Mediterranean, it has become one of the key elements and strong points in the EU's external policy. For this action, the Union has taken on a considerable responsibility and it will have a tough job to avoid dashing the hopes of our neighbours. Indeed, a new dynamism has been born in these countries, which now expect that the Union will support them in the process of democratisation, stabilisation and sustainable development that they have launched. In some countries, it is even a prerequisite for future accession. We therefore have to avoid a number of pitfalls if we are to make a success of the neighbourhood policy.

It must include a multilateral dimension and provide an institutional framework within which the partner countries are fully involved in defining European policy. It must not be limited simply to a free trade area but be based on a real sharing of common values, democracy and human rights. The neighbourhood policy must work to consolidate civil society by setting up a civil forum where NGOs can follow the action plans, which, Commissioner, will not be cooperation plans Mark 2 but specific and effective plans, with a Union determined to monitor them and implement them according to specific criteria.

It is with a certain amount of pride, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, that I will support the action plans for the countries of the southern Caucasus, because the fact that Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia are part of this neighbourhood policy is thanks to us in the European Parliament and not to the Commission and the Council.

Today, these three former Soviet republics bear a heavy burden of history. The neighbourhood policy should help them to find an answer to their frozen conflicts. The issue of Nagorno-Karabakh must be dealt with; the refugees – particularly the Azerbaijanis – must be able to go home; the destruction of historic Armenian monuments in Nakhichevan is unacceptable; Turkey must reopen its border with Armenia; Russia cannot, on the one hand, have a privileged partnership with the EU and, on the other hand, issue passports to Georgian separatists; and the EU must support the peace plan in Georgia for South Ossetia and help to draw up a plan for Abkhazia.

As you can see, strong involvement from the EU, via the drafting of a stability pact in the southern Caucasus to achieve a peaceful resolution to these conflicts, is absolutely vital and will be a win-win strategy. It will help these countries to find the path to development and lasting peace and it will bring the EU considerable credit in a region dominated by the influence of Russia and the United States. Let us make the neighbourhood policy the spearhead of a successful common global security policy.