Press Review 24 April 2018

A glance at the composition of the government and the attitude to unemployment benefits are the leading topics of today's press.

The newspaper Azerbaijan writes about a new government team, which presents both older and young people.

The author claims that there are systemic reforms in the country, there are concrete plans for all sectors, and official and responsible obligations are correctly distributed.

Then the author focuses on the reasons for the appointment of Prime Minister Novruz Mammadov. He reports on his professionalism in foreign policy and his timely response to biased campaigns against Azerbaijan, and his loyalty to the political course of Heydar and Ilham Aliyev.

The website Azadliq.info holds a different point of view in the matter of appointing 71-year-old Novruz Mammadov, who replaced 82-year-old Arthur Rasizadeh, to the post of Prime Minister.

The new Prime Minister is "toothless", not having an independent position and not having the ability to make decisions. Moreover, he is known for his anti-Western "tweets".

These personnel games once again show that the authorities not only do not know how to conduct transparent elections, but they also cannot understand the personnel policy.

The Echo newspaper writes that new fines are offered for employers in Azerbaijan. The country is proposing to introduce sanctions for non-payment of premiums on compulsory unemployment insurance. This is stipulated by the amendments to the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan.

According to the proposed changes, a penalty in the amount of two to four times the amount of the damage inflicted, or up to two years of correctional labor or up to three years of imprisonment is applied in case of evasion from payment of taxes, unemployment insurance premiums and compulsory social insurance in a large amount (from 20,000 to 100,000 manat), along with possible deprivation of the right to occupy certain positions.