President: Big chain of anti-Azerbaijani group existed within European Commission

President Ilham Aliyev said Azerbaijan's relations with the European Commission have improved under its new leadership, while criticising the previous Commission and former EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell during the opening ceremony of the 4th Shusha Global Media Forum.

Referring to Azerbaijan's ties with European institutions, the president drew a distinction between the European Commission and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Caliber.Az reports per Azertag.

"You mentioned several important moments in our relations with the European institutions, including European Commission and Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. And as you know, there is a big difference between relations with one and another. With European Commission, though, we had not an easy times, during the previous Commission, especially due to the destructive role of the former head of European diplomacy, Mr. Borrell, who actually ruined, almost ruined, relations between the European Commission and Azerbaijan," he said. 

The Azerbaijani president also noted the existence of an anti-Azerbaijani network within the previous European Commission.

"Now we can say that certain corrupt figures, including the former judge of the International Court, Mr. Ocampo, who in his comments publicly acknowledged that the money for Mr. Ocampo was coming from Russian-Armenian oligarch," President Ilham Aliyev said.

The head of state added: "It's a big chain of anti-Azerbaijani group, which existed in European Commission. But it's good that Mr. Borrell is now out of politics, hopefully forever. And with the new commission, our relations started to improve, especially after we've seen that there is a big mutual demand for a reset, and we supported that."

Additionally, the president talked about the country's membership in the Council of Europe. 

"You know, on many occasions I express my view on that: that if Azerbaijan leaves the Council of Europe completely, no one in the country will even notice that. So being there or not being there doesn't change a lot here," President Aliyev said.

The head of state emphasized: "And we are not looking for confrontation, especially when not only Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, but also European Parliament is attacking us regularly, again without any grounds. I think it's kind of an obsession about Azerbaijan."

By Sabina Mammadli