Can Energy Ties Prevent an Azerbaijan–EU Rift?

When the Azerbaijani flag was raised at the Council of Europe back in January 2001, many hoped it would be the beginning of Azerbaijan’s European path. Yet twenty-three years later, the Azerbaijani delegation has been suspended from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) over its human rights record, underscoring growing tensions between Baku and some Western capitals. The relationship between Baku and Brussels has long been something of a rollercoaster. Leveraging its abundant oil and gas reserves, the South Caucasus nation of Azerbaijan broke into the European energy market in the mid-2000s, inking a series of strategic partnership deals with about one-third of the European Union’s member states. Yet despite these strides, political integration has remained elusive. The last political agreement between Azerbaijan and the EU was signed in 1999. Subsequent attempts to sign a deal have been bogged down in Baku’s intransigence and ended in failure—or eternal postponement.