European Parliament scarifies Azerbaijani authorities for pressing mass media

In the course of yesterday's hearings at the sitting of the Commission for Human Rights of the European Parliament in Brussels, the authorities of Azerbaijan were criticized for the poor state of affairs with human rights in their country. Human rights activist Arzu Abdullaeva, a participant of the sitting, has informed the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that special attention was given to violations in the sphere of mass information and rights of journalists.

In particular, Rutiger Viessels, a high-ranking official of the European Commission, when speaking to the sitting, treated "any further aggravation of the situation in this area as inadmissible": "The negative tendency in Azerbaijan is contradictory to the spirit and aims of the European policy of new neighbourhood. The Plan of this program envisages clear obligations in the sphere of human rights and freedom of the press."

Rosa Balfour, analyst of the Centre of International Political Studies in Rome, has pointed to the drawbacks of the Plan of the European Policy of New Neighbourhood. The provisions of this document to be signed with each country-partner separately are not perceived by the partners of the European Union as a liability that cannot be broken.

Ms Balfour said that the European Union is just suggesting certain "positive conditions," like, for example, benefits from economic cooperation, and assumes no sanctions against the countries, where the issues of human rights are ignored.