The European Union and the Republic of Tajikistan held their tenth annual Cooperation Committee meeting on 27 November in Brussels.

The meeting took place in an open and constructive atmosphere, reflecting the continued strengthening of relations between the EU and Tajikistan.

The Cooperation Committee reviewed the state of play of bilateral relations and addressed political and socio-economic developments, water, environment, energy, trade and investment cooperation, as well as regional and international issues.

Both sides exchanged views on the ongoing negotiations for an Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (EPCA), which were launched earlier this year, and Tajikistan’s application for the EU’s Generalised Scheme of Preference Plus (GSP+) scheme of unilateral duty free treatment. They both commended these important steps towards expanding cooperation into new areas and broadening the scope of interactions.

The EU confirmed its continued support to Tajikistan in its reform process while highlighting the need for improvements of the country’s human rights and fundamental freedoms agenda. The EU asked to bring it in line with recommendations of the UN and OSCE, in particular on freedom of association, peaceful assembly, freedom of expression, media freedom, as well as freedom of religion and belief.

In this context, the EU noted with satisfaction the adoption of Tajikistan’s first Human Rights Strategy and Action Plan for 2023-2025 and encouraged its full implementation and the continued involvement of civil society in political processes. The EU expressed its concern regarding the detention of human rights defenders, independent journalists and bloggers. The EU called on the Tajik authorities to ensure accountability and to bring to justice all those responsible for human rights violations in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO).

On bilateral development cooperation, the EU informed about the budget support programme and the two Team Europe Initiatives (TEIs) on water, energy and climate change and on digital connectivity. This year marks the 20 year anniversary of two crucial regional EU programmes Tajikistan benefits from: the Border Management Programme in Central Asia (BOMCA) and the Central Asia Drug Action Programme (CADAP). The EU encouraged stronger participation of Tajikistan in its Horizon Europe scientific cooperation Programme and looked forward to the national Erasmus+ Office in Dushanbe becoming operational in the near future.

During their discussions, the two sides also exchanged views on matters of regional and international interest, including COP28, the situation in Afghanistan and Russia’s illegal war of aggression against Ukraine. The EU informed about restrictive measures taken against Russia and attempts to circumvent them. The EU encouraged Tajikistan’s engagement with Central Asia countries and welcomed its constructive role for broader cooperation within the region and beyond, in particular, in the regional electricity market. Tajikistan’s important role in the United Nations with regard to water diplomacy and climate change was acknowledged. Both sides also discussed security issues such as counter-terrorism and combatting the illicit trafficking of drugs and human beings.

The Cooperation Committee was chaired on the EU side by EEAS Deputy Managing Director Mr. Luc Devigne and, on the Tajik side, by the Minister of Economic Development and Trade Mr. Zavqi Zavqizoda.

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Fresh off the heels of the Greek election that saw the center-right, anti-mass migration New Democracy party cruise to a resounding victory, securing over 40% of the national vote, Brussels has demanded an independent investigation to be carried out over alleged ‘migrant pushbacks’ and threatened to take “formal steps” against Greece. 

The demand from the European Commission, which has left-liberal, pro-mass migration activist politicians placed in key leadership positions, follows video footage captured by an Austrian activist on the Greek island of Lesbos—published by the New York Times on Friday, May 19th—that allegedly shows Greek authorities carrying out ‘migrant pushbacks,’ the Athens-based newspaper To Pontiki reports.

EU Home Affairs Commission Ylva Johansson (S&D) on Monday, May 22nd, just one day after the Greek election, revealed that her office had contacted authorities in Athens, demanding that an independent investigation into the alleged incident take place.

“My services have sent a formal request to Greek authorities that this incident be fully and independently investigated,” Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson (S&D) wrote on Twitter.

“It is necessary that proper follow-up is taken by Greek authorities, also based on the new independent monitoring mechanism and the EU Commission stands ready to take formal steps, as appropriate,” she added.

While Johansson may be eager to move forward with the investigation, the European Commission has stated that it will not initiate immediate action, given that the inquiry is currently the responsibility of Greek prosecutors, the Ombudsman, and the National Transparency Authority. 

During a press conference on Monday, Dana Spinant, the deputy spokesperson of the European Commission, stated: “We are not going to draw conclusions and announce actions or activity that we take before becoming aware of the conclusions of that investigation which will be carried out at the national level.”

For years, NGOs have repeatedly accused authorities in Greece of engaging in such pushbacks—accusations that Athens has continually and adamantly denied. Furthermore, all investigations conducted by Greek authorities into such allegations have cleared the relevant government agencies, namely the coast guard and military, of any wrongdoing. 

Prime Minister Mitsotakis has repeatedly defended his government’s strict migration policy, noting that the massive support his party enjoys is clear proof that the Greek public is on his side when it comes to migration. 

EU member states situated on the south and eastern flanks of the bloc, perhaps most notably Greece and Italy, have raised the issue that their countries are disproportionately and unfairly burdened by illegal mass migration. Despite many efforts to do so, the EU, thus far, has failed to agree on a scheme that would see illegal migrants and asylum seekers redistributed throughout the entire bloc.

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Israeli private detective, Aviram Azari has pleaded guilty for involvement in surveillance and cyber intelligence hack scheme in April 2022. Azari, who has been detained and under investigation in the United States since 2019, used New Delhi-based hacking company BellTroX Info Tech Services to conduct surveillance operations on Russian oligarchs.

The Azari case surfaced the name of a Russian businessman and aluminium magnate, Oleg Deripaska as one of the Israeli private detective’s clients. Deripaska allegedly employed Azari in connection with a business dispute in Austria. Both BellTroX and Deripaska’s press secretary had denied being involved in the hacking and claimed that the accusation was false.

New York prosecutors alleged that Azari had orchestrated a series of hacking attacks on behalf of unnamed third parties against US companies that are based in New York, using fake websites and phishing messages to steal passwords from email accounts. Azari’s attorney Barry Zone said the allegation against the defendant stemmed from the work that Azari did for German payment company Wirecard, which filed for insolvency in June 2020, owing creditors almost $4 billion, after disclosing a 1.9 billion hole in its accounts that EY said as the result of a sophisticated global fraud.

New investigation reports by an international consortium of journalists at The Guardian revealed a team of Israeli contractors who claim to have manipulated more than 30 elections around the world using hacking, sabotage and automated disinformation on social media. The team appears to have been working under the radar in elections in various countries for more than two decades.

The team was led by Tal Hanan, a 50-year-old former Israeli special forces operative who works privately using the pseudonym “Jorge”. Team Jorge ran a private service offering to covertly meddle in elections without a trace. The team also have corporate clients.

One of Team Jorge’s key services was a sophisticated software package, Advanced Impact Media Solutions also known as Aims. It controlled a vast army of thousands of fake social media profiles on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Telegram, Gmail, Instagram and YouTube.

Hanan told the undercover reporters that his services, which others described as “black ops”, were available to intelligence agencies, political campaigns and private companies that wanted to secretly manipulate public opinion. He said they had been used across Africa, South and Central America, the US and Europe. The methods and techniques described by Team Jorge raise new challenges for big tech platforms, which have for years struggled to prevent nefarious actors spreading falsehoods or breaching the security on their platforms. Evidence of a global private market in disinformation aimed at elections will also ring alarm bells for democracies around the world.

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