EU: Azerbaijan has made insignificant progress in democracy

In the Azerbaijan-European Union (EU) relations, the year 2013 was somewhat decisive, which is confirmed by the agreements on visa facilitation and mobile partnership, and the progress in other areas of cooperation. However, in the field of democracy, Azerbaijan's progress was insignificant, says the annual EU report, prepared under the European Neighbourhood Policy.

The EU was seriously concerned about the organization of the presidential election on October 9, 2013. The imposed restrictions on the freedom of expression, assembly and association failed to guarantee the equal terms for the presidential candidates, the document says.

At the same time, Azerbaijan has partially solved the problems of managing state funds and took measures to combat corruption in line with the EU's guidelines and the 2012 Action Plan. However, the war on corruption lacked a "systemic approach."

In conclusion, the report puts forward a number of recommendations. In particular, it is offered to ensure an efficient implementation of the January 2013 resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on Azerbaijan's commitments before the Council of Europe.

Ilkham Shaban, the head of Oil Research Centre "Caspian Barrel", said to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent in his comment on the EU's annual report that the document was "duly balanced" and highlighted the problems with fundamental freedoms – of expression, assembly and association.