Azerbaijan, Baku, October 29 / Trend News, V.Zhavoronkova, E.Ostapenko /

EU sanctions against Uzbekistan were not extended, since the strategic cooperation between Uzbekistan and the EU is much more important for the EU than for Uzbekistan, supposes Andrea Schmitz, European specialist on Central Asian issues.

"Uzbekistan most deliberately played on its strategic importance in the bargaining with the Europeans," Schmitz, a specialist on Central Asian issues at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), told Trend News in a telephone conversation.

The decision to lift the embargo on arms supply to Uzbekistan was recently made by the heads of the EU member countries at a meeting in Luxemburg.

Sanctions with regards to Uzbekistan were introduced by the EU in May 2005 after riots in Andijan, where about 200 people were killed. Then the EU demanded an international investigation. However, the Uzbek government refused to take this step, in response to which sanctions were imposed in the form of economic, visa restrictions and embargo on arms supply. However during the last four years the sanctions has been softening.

According to Schmitz, there have been some half-hearted compromises from the Uzbek side, such as the release from prison of several prominent human rights defenders, the abolition of death penalty, or a declaration to abandon child labor. "But all these steps will hardly contribute to a substantial improvement of the human rights situation in Uzbekistan. In addition, it is actually impossible to monitor whether all these intentions which Uzbek government expressed towards EU will be implemented in practice," Schmitz said.

While there have been some compromises on the Uzbek side, the sanctions created a communication blockade between the EU and Uzbekistan. This was especially problematic as Uzbekistan's military-strategic importance has risen in recent years, Schmitz believes.

"For the NATO troops fighting in Afghanistan, it was most important that Germany was allowed to use a military base in Uzbekistan for the logistical support of NATO troops operating in Afghanistan," she said.

According to Schmitz, some of the EU member states would have liked the sanctions to be newly imposed because the Uzbek regime has not allowed an independent investigation into the uprising in Andijan in May, 2005. And in fact, this basic condition the sanctions were tied to has until now not been fulfilled, she said.

However, as time has past, there is no realistic chance that this is ever going to happen, Schmitz believes. Moreover there is no unity within the European Union member states about this issue, she added.

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