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There’s nothing new in the fact that the authorities in Azerbaijan have to spend millions of dollars on lobbyists to shape a favourable image for their country and to prevent criticism against the regime. Yet, the resources spent are not able to reach their goal, Azerbaijani newspaper “Azadlig” writes, referring to the article published in the prestigious German outlet “Der Standard”.

According to the article, Teresa Eder, in her article “How authoritarian regimes influence on the EU countries” says that the vice-president of the European Parliament, head of delegation of the Greens group in the European Parliament Ulrike Lunacek gave a negative response to the request of the lobbyists of the Azerbaijani authorities.

“Der Standard” also highlights that, as it is well-known, the European Olympic Games are due in June in Baku, and that’s the very reason why the Azerbaijani authorities planned a propagandistic event in the European Parliament. However, the members of the European Parliament didn’t let these plans come true.

According to the newspaper, the incident was registered in January during the discussions of the report proposed by the “Corporate Europe Observatory”. The report held details regarding the lobbying organisations’ activities of such authoritarian regimes as Azerbaijan, Ruanda, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Nigeria and others, in the territories of the EU countries.

During the discussions of the report, Ivo Ilich Gabara, a British PR-company strategist, pointed out the fact that if someone can afford such astronomical sums for their advertising, then there’s no doubt that the individual in question has many problems.

The author stresses that Ulrike Lunacek, in her turn, touched the topic of “Eurovision” Song Contest in Azerbaijan in 2012 when the official Baku invited the European Parliament Members, paying for their journey and stay.

“At that time many people were expelled from their own homes in Baku during the Contest,” she reminded.

According to the article, Lunacek also raised her concern regarding the frequent visits the members of various Committees of European Parliament pay to Azerbaijan, accepting the Azerbaijani authorities’ offers for their countries lobbying. She said she had herself more that once received that kind of offers by Azerbaijan.

“I have time and again told them that I won’t allow them to press on me. I am very well aware of the problems in Azerbaijan and hence, I can openly speak up about the Azerbaijani political prisoners,” she concluded.