The EU and Abkhazia: between a rock and a hard place

The EU’s outreach to Abkhazia is welcome – it demonstrates that it can formulate a unified policy towards a very complex problem. But unified does not mean coherent, and it remains torn between neutral economic engagement and Georgia’s sovereignty.

The EU’s outreach to Abkhazia is welcome – it demonstrates that it can formulate a unified policy towards a very complex problem. But unified does not mean coherent, and it remains torn between neutral economic engagement and Georgia’s sovereignty. 

With Russian backing, Abkhazia bristles at any notion of being an ‘occupied territory’, but Georgia refuses to see it any other way. This is the bottom line. Between the rock of independence and the hard place of territorial integrity, Europe is trapped.

By Alexander Jackson

Read more on http://en.apa.az/news.php?id=118139

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