Реализация инициатив «Восточного партнерства» в Азербайджане

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan established political relations with the EU during the implementation of TACIS Programme projects, supporting democratic and pro-market reforms in three South Caucasus countries. In 1996 the state signed the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with the EU, whose objectives included political dialogue, support in building democracy and cooperation in the sphere of economy and investment. In 2004 Azerbaijan joined the European Neighbourhood Policy. In 2007– 2010 Azerbaijan received funds from the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument in the amount of EUR 92 million. Even though Azerbaijan joined the Eastern Partnership programme in

2009, it focused mainly on the energy market in its relationships with the EU [1]. Negotiations concerning the association agreement with the EU are hampered by the fact that Azerbaijan is not a member of WTO. Although in 2011 the EU earmarked certain funds for Azerbaijan as part of the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument for 2011–2014, the government of Azerbaijan is quite sceptical about the Eastern Partnership initiative, while declaring in official documents that it wishes to raise the standard of living of its citizens to the European level. The European Union does not have effective instruments which might change this position. In 2011 Azerbaijan joined the Non-Aligned Movement, and the priorities of the country's foreign policy as declared by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stress independence in foreign relations policy and emphasise independence and integrity of the country's territory. Azerbaijan declares itself in favour of establishing a security policy and maintaining the status quo in the region. It demands that the South Caucasus region remain free from nuclear weapons, objects to illegal transport of weapons and military equipment and favours demilitarisation of the Caspian Sea. Integration with the NATO and EU structures is not part of Azerbaijan's policy, which only mentions cooperation, emphasising the strategic place of the country on the border between Asia and Europe and promoting the development of the Euro-Asian Transport Corridor, which should contribute to better contacts between countries of both continents. During the third Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius in November 2013, Azerbaijan signed only an agreement concerning visa facilitations and readmission. Azerbaijan's restrained attitude towards an association agreement with the EU enables talks with the Russian Federation, which may attempt to induce the important partner to cooperate within the Eurasian Union.

Nevertheless, Azerbaijan remains one of the Eastern Partnership countries working towards strengthening their relationship with the EU. The programme's objectives include political association, establishment of extended free trade zones and abolition of the visa regime without the prospects of membership in the EU structures. These transformations are to be implemented by European structures through five flagship initiatives. The purpose of this article is to analyse and evaluate the implementation of Eastern Partnership in Azerbaijan and the extent of system transformations in this country until the end of 2014.

I Scope of flagship initiatives and their implementation

The the Eastern Partnership programme is to be implemented by the six member countries through five flagship initiatives:

• 1/ Integrated Border Management Programme, for which EUR 44.5 million was earmarked. The scope of this programme included such issues as people movement and adjustment of border management legislation of the Partnership member countries to EU standards. The programme provided for combating customs fraud, illegal migration and increasing the safety of European transport corridors, including TRACEA. Other goals included transfer of good practices in the sphere of security, implementation of pilot training courses, programmes and projects.

• 2/ The most substantial financial support – EUR 57 million – was earmarked for small and medium-sized enterprises. The programme was planned to be implemented on three levels: a/ The East Invest Programme, managed by EUROCHAMBRES, was aimed at big business and SMEs to develop economic contacts between the Partnership countries and the EU. The activities on this level included establishing a network of relations between public institutions and private entities in the member countries, strengthening contacts on the regional level, developing consulting services and improving project financing. b/ Supporting the development of SME credit market through the SME Facility instrument from the funds of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the European European Investment Bank. c/ Business consulting and management support for the SME sector.

• 3/ The regional electrical energy markets and renewable sources development initiative with a budget of EUR 41 million involved the development of a feasibility study and a plan of undertakings in the sphere of sustainable energy and assumed Azerbaijan's participation in Intelligence Energy Europe Programme.

• 4/ Environmental Governance initiative with a budget of EUR 12 million is intended to promote and increase the awareness of environmental protection, develop systems of information about projects undertaken and make such systems accessible in other countries of the Partnership.

• 5/ The initiative involving prevention of man-made disasters with a budget of EUR 12 million was planned in the form of a review of legislation concerning disaster management and development of cooperation between the EU and Partnership states in that respect [2].

A large part of the financial support was based on bilateral cooperation based on agreements entered into be the Partnership countries as part of the European Neighbourhood Policy. In 2007– 2010 the Partnership countries received a total of 1 billion euros [3]. Furthermore, the countries making the most substantial transformation progress were awarded additional funds from the Governance

Facility instrument. Supplementary financial support for the Partnership beneficiaries was provided by the European Investment Bank in the form of long-term credit facilities for direct investment. The second fund established by the Bank was designed to finance technical assistance provided to local partners.

In 2009–2014, with regard to the first initiative – Integrated Border Management Programme – Azerbaijan was obliged to implement facilities with respect to people movement, illegal trade elimination, crime reduction, harmonisation of legislation and adoption of EU standards with respect to border management, as well as to strengthen multilateral cooperation among the Partnership countries. Implementation of the projects in Azerbaijan was connected with improving the access of resettled people to the judicial system, creation of electronic border control systems, social protection, increasing public awareness to eliminate domestic violence, improving assimilation of asylum-seekers and immigrants, and supporting occupational health organisations. [4].

Azerbaijan implemented the SME support initiative at three levels. The East Invest Programme activities in Azerbaijan included four training sessions for SMEs on European law and internationalisation of enterprises. Selected enterprises were offered training on commercial law, services, standards, customs regulations, competition policy and intellectual property rights and presented with opportunities for undertaking joint ventures. The economic cooperation support activities consisted of audits in enterprises, exchange for 50 groups of businesspeople and two training sessions for entrepreneurs, as well as establishment of a business academy. The candidates from Azerbaijan were offered 3 seats in Eurochambres structures [5]. The minister of economy of Azerbaijan organised a promotional conference for foreign investors in Baku on 10–11 September 2013. As a follow-up, business profiles of 79 Azerbaijani enterprises were prepared for publishing on the Web. A delegation of Azerbaijani businesspeople attended international training sessions and workshops on enterprise management run by EU representatives [6].

As part of the third initiative, related to the establishment of regional electrical and renewable energy markets, the Intelligence Energy Europe Programme was developed. It assumed technical support for Azerbaijan with respect to upgrading and development of infrastructure in the individual regions of the country, improvement of access to public utilities, including energy and gas and preparation of a feasibility study concerning different methods of energy generation. Azerbaijan partially implemented these recommendations in 2007–2013 as part of the INOGATE Programme through 33 projects. They supported efforts opening the access to the markets of other countries and presenting their legislation including the development of electrical energy accumulation and distribution in the country, reduction of technical losses, preparation of programmes of energy use from alternative sources by 2020, promotion of knowledge of efficient energy use in residential buildings and improvement of legislation in the gas and energy sector [10].

The Environmental Governance initiative is a programme implemented in two stages. The first stage (2010–2014) involved intensifying efforts with respect to environmental protection, cultural heritage protection and natural disaster prevention in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan developed a digital regional atlas of natural disasters, and proposed population protection measures during natural disaster mitigation activities in line with the law of Azerbaijan and EU requirements.

Another initiative – prevention of natural disasters – included efforts for the protection against natural disasters carried out with the EU crisis management centre.

Overall, Azerbaijan implemented 38 projects in the framework of the five initiatives in 2007– 2014. Of these, 18 projects were connected with multi-level management, democracy, human rights, support for the economy and institutional reforms, 2 projects were devoted to regional integration, 1 – to transport and communications, 3 – to water and energy, 2 – to social cohesion and employment, 7 – to human capital, 4 – to rural development, agriculture and food protection and 3 – to the management of natural resources. Azerbaijani authorities did not undertake any projects concerning conflict prevention or multi-sector projects.

• II. System transformation assessment

  An assessment of system transformations in Eastern Partnership countries, including Azerbaijan, was conducted by an international team, which published a report titled ”European Integration Index 2014 for Eastern Partnership Countries” towards the end of 2014. The report evaluated the pro-

• gress of reforms in the six Partnership countries and the process of approximation of EU standards at three levels: 1/ building political, economic and social ties between the Partnership countries and the EU; 2/ approximation of laws and activities to EU standards; 3/ development management.

In the assessment of transformations completed in the six Eastern Partnership countries: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova, Azerbaijan was ranked last but one in the report, before Belarus only. With respect to system transformations ranked on the scale between 0 (worst) to 1 (best), Azerbaijan's score was 0.41. The most extensive transformation was achieved in the economic cooperation category and the least – in social contact and sectoral cooperation [11]. As regards approximation to European standards, Azerbaijan's lowest score was in the democratic changes category (0.31). In the area of management, the country's lowest score related to raising the awareness of the need for integration and entering into institutional agreements (0.33). With regard to Azerbaijan's progress in political dialogue transformation, the report pointed out that the country rarely participated in debated on human rights in 2009–2014 [12]. The document mentioned the control of the country's authorities over the media and the absence of an independent institution protecting gender equality and ethnic and religious minority rights. Azerbaijan's administration also needed reforms, showing the worst corruption-combating performance among the Eastern Partnership countries.

With regard to economic relations, the document emphasised EU's importance as a trade partner of Eastern Partnership countries. In 2014 the European Union remained the leader in goods trade with Azerbaijan. However, it did not achieve the same position in services trade. Trade with Commonwealth of Independent States accounted for a mere 11.8% of all trade transactions in 2014. Commencement of negotiations between DCFTA and Azerbaijan is conditional upon the latter joining the WTO. The entry into force of construction and customs codes towards the end of 2013 was highly welcomed. Compared to other Eastern partnership countries, Azerbaijan's advantages were the significant development of entrepreneurship and relatively low taxes.

The environmental policy was less favourably assessed in the three South Caucasus countries, including Azerbaijan. While Azerbaijan signed the Protocol on environmental impact to the Espoo Convention of 25 February 1991, the report pointed out that the reduction of air and soil pollution and increase of protected areas was not fast enough.

The transformations in the area of science and culture until 2013 were considered inefficient. Azerbaijan took part in the Bologna process, but was not the most committed Eastern Partnership country in the process of mobility of students and academics.

Azerbaijan received less financial support from the EU than Georgia and Armenia in 2009– 2014. The amounts received by the countries were determined by the progress of their system transformation. The report presented an unfavourable opinion of Azerbaijan's changes in management and approximation of national legislation to the European law. Freedom, security and justice were considered to be the key areas of cooperation between the Partnership countries and the EU. In an attempt to create a safe area of welfare, the Partnership supported efforts to counteract organised crime, illegal migration and human trafficking. On 18 September 2014 the European Parliament adopted a resolution criticising Azerbaijan's authorities for the violation of human rights and called for sanctions on that country.

The European Parliament resolution adopted on 14 March 2014, setting the priorities in EU relations with Eastern Partnership countries emphasised that the events at the summit in Vilnius in November 2013 demonstrated the fragility of integration and meant a difficult trial for the Partnership initiative. It was considered that the possibility of applying for EU membership by Eastern Partnership states might accelerate the reforms in those countries. The document stressed the need to increase EU involvement in projects of social, economic and cultural character in the countries covered by the initiative. Ensuring security in the six countries and adding the energy security clause to agreements signed with them were indicated as top priorities. The resolution called upon the European Commission to execute extended free trade agreements and abolish trade barriers, which would boost mutual economic contacts. It also spoke in favour of the approach “more for more and better” cooperation in the financial sector and promotion of joint activities under the slogan “united in diversity”. The document assumed that the efforts would continue and emphasised that despite the criticism voiced about the Eastern Partnership its implementation depended on the will of the EU and the six countries involved [13]. The proof for continuation of the initiative was the allocation of funds for the Partnership countries, including 252 to 308 million euros for Azerbaijan alone, for transformations to be carried out in 2014–2020. The largest pool of funds for Azerbaijan (40%) was assigned for regional development, whereas the areas of the justice sector reform, education and skills development, as well as institutional development and civil society received 20% each [14]. The funds were distributed by the EU according to the “more for more” rule, commensurate with the progress of transformation in the indi- vidual countries. While allocating the funds, the EU also indicated the sectors requiring the most extensive changes. In Azerbaijan the most dramatic changes were planned in the regional sector.