The Movement for Democracy and Prosperity (MDP) on terms of signing an agreement between Azerbaijan and the EU

Baku/09.04.19/Turan: The Movement for Democracy and Prosperity (MDP) believes that an agreement between Azerbaijan and the European Union should be signed, subject to all the conditions put forward in due time in the Recommendations of the European Parliament.

As the statement said, the authorities of Azerbaijan have recently taken unsystematic and half-hearted measures under the slogan of "reforms". These steps are taken without public participation, do not have effective enforcement mechanisms, are not sufficient to ensure the values ​​of the EU.

In this regard, the MDP calls upon the authorities to carry out reforms in the following areas:

1) Before signing an agreement between Azerbaijan and the EU, all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience should be released, all fundamental freedoms, including freedom of peaceful assembly, artificial barriers to peaceful rallies should be secured, the authorities declared dialogue on restoring confidence in electoral institutions, respecting the rule of law and human rights;

2) NGO registration should be simplified and carried out in the form of commercial structures, restrictions on the representation and foundation of foreign legal entities are lifted, legal and regulatory barriers for NGOs are eliminated, the licensing system for state registration of grants and donations should be replaced by a notification one.

In addition, a competitive environment should be created to support free and pluralistic media, blocking Internet resources should be eliminated;

3) In order to ensure the impartiality and dependence of the judicial system on the executive branch, it is necessary to take measures for the transparency and accountability of the courts, the election process of judges, and the availability of court decisions.

In order to increase the effectiveness of legal protection of the population and the availability of legal services and the development of an independent institution of the bar, the oral examination should be canceled when admitted to the bar, conditions have been created for the work of an alternative bar.

It is proposed to lift the restriction on the representation of citizens in the courts by lawyers on the basis of a power of attorney;

4) To improve the effectiveness of measures to combat corruption, money laundering, tax evasion, declarations should be published on the income and property of judges, prosecutors, members of parliament and other officials;

5) In order to strengthen trade and investment cooperation with the EU, the Competition Code should be adopted, the independence of government agencies responsible for protecting competition and consumers should be increased, the process of Azerbaijan"s accession to the WTO should be accelerated and the issue of membership in the organization should be resolved within a year.

If the commitments in these 5 areas are not met, then the European Parliament should not give consent to the signing of an agreement between Azerbaijan and the EU, said the MDP.

* The MDP was established in February 2015. The head of the organization is a prominent economist Gubad Ibadoglu. -06D-