European Commission: "There is a progress in freedom of speech in Azerbaijan though pressure on opposition medias is observed"

European Commission for External Relations made a report on the implementation of the Action Plan signed within the framework of European Neighborhood Policy, Christiane Hohmann, Spokesperson of Benita Ferrero-Waldner, and European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy told APA.

The reports have also been made on Armenia, Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, Lebanon, Jordan and Israel today. The report on Azerbaijan covers Azerbaijan-EU relations, joint projects carried out, situation of political and economic dialogue. Authors of the report noted that the  European Commission had allocated ? 409 million to Azerbaijan since 1992.

The report records that there is progress in 2003 presidential elections, but international organizations found some shortcomings.

Authors stated that reforms had been carried out on court system, municipal government and military service of citizens.

EU considers that though Azerbaijan adopted a State program on combating corruption, this problem is still occurring.

The report says that Azerbaijan has achieved important progress on freedom of speech, but economic problems of the media has not been solved yet and there are pressures on opposition media.

“There is a problematic position to the NGOs in the country. The problems on jails have not been settled yet and prisoners have undergone tortures in jails. There is an important progress on the solution to the issue on political prisoner. Azerbaijan has taken productive measures to protect the rights of women, children and ethic minorities”, the report records.

The report envisages the active relations of Azerbaijan with Russia, U.S, Turkey, Georgia and EU. The report also covers Nagorno Karabakh conflict and the authors support the efforts of OSCE MG in the resolution to the conflict.

“Problems of refugees and IDPs have not been solved yet”, the authors said. European Commission noted that Azerbaijan was situated in transit routes, where drugs were smuggled and Azerbaijan struggled against financing terrorism and human trafficking.

The report says that Azerbaijan has carried out positive reforms on combating inflation, tax and trade. The report will be presented in Baku tomorrow.

/APA/