Europe strengthens energy cooperation with Azerbaijan
17:20
As gas supplies from Russia dwindle and winter chills soon replace the summer heat wave, Europe is looking for alternative energy sources. The search shows that alternative energy sources for Europe's energy industry – the United Arab Emirates or Azerbaijan – are expected to come from countries with long-standing human rights problems and prevailing problems with democracy.
These problems are often forgotten during energy talks between senior EU officials and representatives of other countries.
In the current context, "France and Europe are tilting toward realpolitik," said Sébastien Boussois, a researcher in European-Arab relations affiliated with the Université Libre de Bruxelles (Free University of Brussels), he stressed in an interview with EURACTIV. According to him, in the face of the need to "diversify resources as much as possible, especially energy resources," France "is more interested in its energy sovereignty than in human rights issues."
