Azerbaijan and the Council of Europe: Pragmatism Over Principles

When Ilham Aliyev stepped onto the tarmac in Belgrade in mid-February, greeted by Aleksandar Vučić with full military honours, the picture looked familiar. What mattered was not the ceremony but the subtext: Serbia and Azerbaijan are building something more durable than diplomatic symbolism — an energy-centred partnership that could subtly alter the economic map of the Balkans.

The chandeliers of the Bayerischer Hof glowed against a February chill as more than 450 presidents, prime ministers, generals and executives gathered for three days that felt less like a conference than a reckoning. The 62nd Munich Security Conference, held from Feb. 13 to 15 across the Bayerischer Hof and the Rosewood Munich, unfolded amid a sense that the post–Cold War order — the one Europe thought it had secured — is slipping into history.

Leaders of the Turkic world gathered in Budapest this week for the first informal summit of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS), marking the first time such an event has been held in a European Union member state. The meeting highlighted both the strategic rise of the organization and the internal contradictions that persist within the bloc.

Leading international analytical firms have been actively sharing their research and forecasts regarding the EU's gas demand at various forums, taking into account the bloc’s strategy for a gradual transition away from fossil fuels. This approach contrasts with statements from the newly elected U.S. president, who has linked the expansion of American liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports to trade tariffs on the EU.