At current stage of Karabakh conflict settlement, the OSCE Minsk Group activities proved to be effective, OSCE MG U.S. co-chair Robert Bradtke said.

"OSCE MG format is quite flexible and able to respond quickly to any changes in the region," Bradtke said speaking at a hearing Wednesday in the European Parliament. According to him, in future, EU will largely contribute to conflict settlement.

According to him, in their recent statement in Deauville, the leaders of three countries of the OSCE Minsk Group urged the parties to make "bold steps" to apply basic principles. Speaking about the performance of the co-chairs, U.S. mediator said: "The main thing we have done is to prevent a new war."

According to the French co-chair Bernard Fassier, the EU's role in this conflict is decisive. "The lease EU’s done is the training of civil society in both countries," said Fassier. Also, the ambassador said if the basic principles are not accepted soon, the co-chairs will have to come up with a new concept.

According to Fassier, the co-chairs were hoping for a breakthrough in 2009, which is why the presidents of the OSCE Minsk Group for the first time took the responsibility of publishing the basic principles for a settlement.

"Thus, today we come to an end of the third cycle in Karabakh conflict settlement," Trend News quoted the ambassador as saying.