1. Recalls that the EU and its Member States share the values and principles of the UN Charter as stated in Article 21(1) TEU and have a crucial role in promoting those principles as well as the goals of the UN, through the external action of the Union; considers that the EU needs global partners if it is to succeed in achieving its foreign policy goals, notably in the fields of peace and security, terrorism, organised crime, regional conflicts, state failures and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction;

16. Recalls its position that the occupation by one country of the Eastern Partnership of the territory of another violates the fundamental principles and objectives of the Eastern Partnership and that the conclusion of the EU Association Agreements with Armenia and Azerbaijan should be linked to progress towards the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions 822, 853, 874 and 884 of 1993 and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group Basic Principles ...[+++], enshrined in the L’Aquila joint statement of 10 July 2009;

Member States should benefit not just from the setting of guiding principles and budgetary targets but also from a synchronised monitoring of their budgetary policies.

10. Welcomes the principle of differentiation and concentration of aid proposed by the Commission; stresses that differentiation must be carried out gradually in the programming phase, as regards both the beneficiary countries and the actual tools of cooperation, developing other forms of cooperation more suited to MICs; recommends that the criteria for application of the principle of differentiation be objective and common to all countries;

6. Considers that there is an inherent complexity in the regional economic structure and a certain degree of interdependence between economic, social and environmental issues; takes the view that, although GDP is still a relevant and rigorous measurement of development in the implementation of the programmes in regions and cities, it is sometimes likely to provide an incomplete impression that takes no account of the actual situation in the regions; considers, therefore, that a robust, fair, open and scientific debate on the merits of other indicators in addition to GDP should take place; underlines that whereas GDP should remain the main crit ...[+++]erion for Objective 1, other criteria should also be used to categorise and prioritise support to Objective 2 regions, based on the respective social, economic, environmental, demographical and geographical challenges which they face, in accordance with Council Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006; notes that the Member States might consider investigating further indicators – environmental and social factors, for example – that give a broader picture of the well-being of society, the specific characteristics of Objectives 1 and 2 regions and cities and the added value produced by EU policies at national level, with the aim of not leaving vast and poorly developed areas outside the development offered by the common European cohesion policy;

3. The Union shall respect the principles and pursue the objectives set out in paragraphs 1 and 2 in the development and implementation of the different areas of the Union's external action covered by this Title and by Part Five of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and of the external aspects of its other policies.