Aliyev Accuses Europe of 'Hypocrisy'

Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev has labeled Europe’s approach as "hypocritical," as it simultaneously asks Baku to increase gas supplies while refusing to fund the necessary infrastructure for doing so.

“Today, Europe is in dire need of our natural gas. On one side, they are asking us to increase gas production and transport it to Europe. On the other side, they are not financing this. This hypocrisy must end,” Aliyev stated.

According to TASS, he added that European partners want Azerbaijan to double the capacity of the Southern Gas Corridor. “We need to invest billions for this. Let me point out that we have not yet repaid what we have spent on the Southern Gas Corridor. Our revenues from gas continue to go towards servicing that debt. They expect us to invest billions there. At the same time, they say that the European Union will not need gas in ten years. Are we fools to invest tens of billions of dollars into gas that they won’t need?” Aliyev remarked.