The forecasts that the U.S. President will exercise the authority given to him by Congress to waive sanctions against Azerbaijan before the end of 2001 did not prove to be correct. George Bush has not signed the corresponding document until now and judging from the information from Washington and Baku, he does not intend to do it in the near future. Baku sources report the prudence of the American President is conditioned by the prospect of depriving Azerbaijan of the status of Council of Europe full member. As it is known a number of deputies of the Parliamentary Assembly of the CE, who represent the countries of the Western Europe, have come out with an initiative of waiving Azerbaijan membership in the organization, as official Baku did not fulfill a significant part of the obligations undertaken. The U.S. President will find himself in an awkward situation, if a few days after waiving sanctions against Azerbaijan the country is expelled from the Council of Europe. In the opinion of some Baku commentators, Bush is procrastinating the time, waiting for PACE final decision concerning meeting the commitments made by Azerbaijan. “Zerkalo” newspaper being published in Baku possesses information that “the American diplomacy does not sit on its hands: on the one hand it prompts official Baku to fulfilling the obligations, on the other it is trying to convince its allies in Western Europe that imposing too strict sanctions against Azerbaijan is not expedient.”
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