President of the European Council Charles Michel announced that he congratulated Ilham Aliyev on winning the presidential election. More interesting is what Michelle said about the conversation with him. “We had substantive discussions on the issue of the regulation of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations. We welcome Azerbaijan’s commitment to resume trilateral meetings in the Brussels format, which aims to make the South Caucasus stable and prosperous. Issues related to EU-Azerbaijan cooperation were also discussed, including in the field of communications and energy.”
Aliyev assured Charles Michel that he will resume his participation in the Brussels format negotiations. What has changed? Has the presidential election passed, was Aliyev just playing a “hero” by hardening his approaches, or was he satisfied with the Armenian government’s “commitment” to change the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, at least at the level of opening a conversation and making statements about it? Weeks ago, Michel’s “envoy”, Toivo Klaar, the special representative for South Caucasus issues, arrived in Yerevan, but he did not leave Yerevan for Baku.
And why did he come to Yerevan, if Yerevan has never created an obstacle regarding the Brussels format, that obstacle was in Baku. Logic suggests that it was necessary to go to Baku, while Klaar came to Yerevan and did not go to Baku, with the unconvincing explanation that Azerbaijan is busy with pre-election issues. And has Brussels promised anything to Baku in order to get a commitment to restart negotiations in the Brussels format?
In any case, Michel’s statement that they also discussed issues related to EU-Azerbaijan cooperation in the field of communication and energy, at least gives a reason to think about it. Did the European Union offer new programs to Baku, receiving a commitment to continue the negotiations? And was there pressure on Aliyev to which he gave in? A few days ago, PACE did not approve the mandate of the Azerbaijani delegation for the coming year.
But, it seems that Baku did not take that circumstance particularly seriously and moreover, calls began to be heard in Azerbaijan about the need to say goodbye to the Council of Europe in general. Did Michel receive Aliyev’s commitment to resume the Brussels format with a sleight of hand, with a whip or with a pie, perhaps it will be possible to mark in time, when it will be touched, with what content the work of that format will be “resumed”.
#Whip #pie #conversation #Michel #Aliyev
