Europe's caviar diplomacy with Azerbaijan must end – EU Observer

The recent revelation that Azerbaijan has pursued a policy of bestowing gifts of caviar on parliamentarians and officials at the Council of Europe comes as no surprise to those who follow the interactions of the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly (Pace) with the Caspian petro-state, Jacqueline Hale, senior analyst at the Open Society European Policy Institute in Brussels writes.
 
Amid growing evidence of Azerbaijan’s deteriorating human rights record and entrenching authoritarianism, voices continue to speak out in favour the regime.
 
Officials in the EU, which conducted a human rights dialogue with Azerbaijan last week, admit privately that caviar has also been on the menu in Brussels. Whilst there has been no concrete evidence of bribe-taking linked to policy outcomes, Azerbaijan’s relations with parts of the European Parliament are cosy.
 
The largest political grouping in the parliament, the European People’s Party, held a February conference attended by Azerbaijan’s foreign minister during which some of its leading members extolled the virtues of Azerbaijan’s political reforms and the fact it “has made clear its intention of building democracy.”
 
In comparison to other neighbours, the EU appears to practice a form of exceptionalism towards Azerbaijan.Catherine Ashton, the EU’s first High Representative for Foreign Affairs, recently released two widely contrasting statements on Belarus and Azerbaijan within days of each other.
 
Though both feature side by side in various democracy indices and ongoing repression in the two countries is in many ways comparable, Belarus comes in for censure while Azerbaijan receives fulsome praise.
 
Ashton’s congratulatory statement on Azerbaijan confirms the argument that the European Union is taking a different posture towards its neighbours depending on whether or not they have energy to sell.
 
In the event, Ashton welcomed the release of nine political prisoners under amnesty but neglected to mention that a further 60 remain behind bars.
 
Following May’s Eurovision song contest, pressure on activists has intensified. Arrests continue, including blogger Zaur Garbanli on drugs charges, days after he criticised the inclusion in school text books of a poem by the president’s daughter eulogising her grandfather and former president.
 
Senior government officials have targeted democracy activists and independent media calling for a campaign of public hatred against them.
 
For the Council of Europe, the continent’s premier rights institution, it means putting an end to the caviar-fuelled farce and showing Azerbaijan the door, the author concludes.   Read more... (405 words)

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