Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/286290
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 30 MARCH 2014 16 JAMES DEBONO FOR the next 18 years Malta's gas supply will be dependent on the klep- tocratic Azerbaijan. It was a sure sign of closer relations between the two countries that saw Prime Minister Joseph Muscat send Azeri ruler Ilham Aliyev his personal congratulations on his birthday. But then again, Malta is not alone in turning a blind eye to a deteriorating human rights situation in the former Soviet republic by fostering strong energy ties. In its desperate bid to diversify its gas supply and move away from Vladimir Putin's Russia, the Euro- pean Union is also moving in that direction. Human rights issues were completely sidelined in a meeting be- tween EC president José Barroso and Azeri president Ilham Aliyev, which preceded an agreement envisioning a gas pipeline linking Europe and Az- erbaijan in September. It was the Southern Gas Corridor that was important in their 2013 meeting, rather than challenging Aliyev's statements on Azerbaijan having no political prisoners – giving Aliyev "an easy ride on human rights" as EU Observer journalist Andrew Rettman noted. The EU has in the meantime sus- pended talks on the South Stream pipeline, meant to carry gas to cen- tral and southern Europe from Rus- sia. In an attempt to break free from its dependence on Russian gas, the EU now risks a new dependence: un- predictable and autocratic dynasties, and transit countries like Turkey. Azeri pipeline In Brussels last week, Muscat hint- ed that recent political developments in Russia had strengthened Europe's resolve to diversify energy sources and go for new interconnections. He said the EU's position in favour of Azerbaijan would benefit Malta's own position, given that state-owned company SOCAR forms part of the ElectroGas consortium supplying LNG to a new 215MW plant and the Delimara phase II turbines. Now the EU is presently consider- ing a gas pipeline starting from Az- erbaijan, passing through Albania, and into Puglia in Italy. While Muscat says the government is in agreement with ElectroGas to remove an LNG tanker from Mar- saxlokk once a pipeline is in place, what's unclear is how this move would impact the 18-year gas agree- ment: Enemalta must purchase its gas from ElectroGas, which in turn must get its gas from SOCAR. But questions to energy minister Konrad Mizzi on the compatibility of a pipe- line with the 18-year agreement have remained unanswered for the past three weeks. How would Malta import gas di- rectly via pipeline if the LNG tanker is to move out of Marsaxlokk within the next eight to 10 years? And who will own the pipeline's infrastruc- ture? Muscat has hinted that an Italo- Malta or North African pipeline could happen within eight to ten years, when Malta is still bound to ElectroGas. If the latter company will own the pipeline, the island's de- pendency on Azeri gas could be of a more permanent nature than the 18- year agreement. The rise of the Aliyevs The Azeri ruling family Aliyev (no relation to Kazakhstan's Rakhat Ali- yev) has held onto power in Azerbai- jan for the past two decades through fraudulent elections. Over the past two decades they have arrested and beaten opposition candidates and curtailed basic media freedom. Ilham's father Heydar Aliyev, a former KGB officer who led Soviet Armenia between 1969 and 1982, became president in 1993, follow- ing a military coup. In 2003, he was forced to withdraw from the presi- dential elections due to ill health and his son stood and won instead. The elections were widely recognised as fraudulent. But the Azeri government has de- ployed its resources in public rela- tions in an attempt to project the country as a model democracy. Elections held in December 2013 were deemed free and fair by Malta's own Speaker of the House Anglu Far- rugia, but condemned as fraudulent by OSCE (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe). Seven MEPs have been investigated by the European Parliament for al- legedly being paid by Azerbaijan to say its elections in October were "free and fair", when OSCE's report highlighted "heavy rigging" and "se- rious problems" over freedom of ex- pression. Although the MEPs were found guilty of breaching guidelines on travel and expenses – because their trips were sponsored by the Society for the Promotion of German-Az- erbaijani Relations (GEFDAB) – no further action was taken against them by European Parliament presi- dent Martin Schulz, who insisted that a warning was enough. In contrast to widespread misin- formation peddled by these MEPs, a Council of Europe parliamentary re- port co-signed by veteran Labour MP Joe Debono Grech, and Spanish MP Pedro Agramunt expressed concern at the announcement of a seven-year jail sentence of two opposition poli- ticians: Ilgar Mammadov, the leader of the Republican Alternative Move- ment, and Tofiq Yagubli, the deputy head of the Musavat Party. The report was issued just days after President George Abela, the Prime Minister's wife Michelle Mus- cat and Education Minister Evarist Bartolo attended the official opening of a photographic exhibition by Ali- yev's daughter Leyla. Despite the participation of high- level government members, the opening was not announced to the press. Muscat's letter to Aliyev Despite international condem- nation of the fraudulent election, Joseph Muscat finds time to congrat- ulate Aliyev on the occasion of his birthday, congratulating him on the start of his third term as President of Azerbaijan. "I am confident that we will continue building on efforts that will strengthen the ties between our two countries both bilaterally as well as through regionally and multilater- ally, particularly with the EU." Muscat also assured Aliyev of Malta's commitment to support Azerbaijan`s progress under the Eastern Partnership and the Euro- pean Neighborhood Policy. "Whilst I look forward to stronger cooperation between our two countries, I extend to you Your Excellency the assur- ances of my highest consideration," Muscat wrote in a letter accompa- nying others from Putin, deposed News After Crimea: Aliyev to the rescue? Russia's annexation of Crimea may push Europe further in to the embrace of Azerbaijan's corrupt dictatorship with which Malta is already directly tied for 18 years through a gas purchase agreement.