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Venice Commission broke conclusion making procedure

Politics Materials 21 September 2016 17:47 (UTC +04:00)
When making a conclusion on a draft law, the Venice Commission used to study Azerbaijan’s stance, however, this procedure has been violated with regard to the referendum project
Venice Commission broke conclusion making procedure

Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 21

Trend:

When making a conclusion on a draft law, the Venice Commission used to study Azerbaijan’s stance, however, this procedure has been violated with regard to the referendum project, said Shahin Aliyev, head of Department of Legislation and Legal Expertise of Azerbaijani Presidential Administration.

During a press conference in Baku Sept. 21, Shahin Aliyev said the conclusion given by the Venice Commission is an order against Azerbaijan and the PACE parliament members stand behind the order.

“I assess this as a political order. There are parliament members from various countries in PACE and I suppose some parliament members stand behind this order,” he said. “No one has contacted us, no calls or official appeals have been made. They had to give us an opportunity to become familiar with their conclusion.”

“This time, the procedure has been grossly violated. We are being addressed through ultimatums,” he added.

“The conclusion was worked out only in two weeks based on the request of PACE president,” said Shahin Aliyev.

“The Venice Commission states that it is impossible to discuss 29 amendments to the constitution in 60 days. Is it then possible to work out a conclusion on those amendments in two weeks?” said Aliyev.

“There are enough inaccuracies and even gross mistakes in this conclusion. For example, there is a reference to the Article 159 of the constitution in paragraph 25 of the conclusion. But the constitution consists of 158 articles and there is no 159th article,” he noted.

The Venice Commission’s main dissatisfaction is related to strengthening of the vertical of executive power, said Aliyev, adding this is about the establishment of vice-president’s post in case of adoption of the referendum act.

“The Venice Commission’s conclusion says that vice-presidency is not democratic. Which international document envisages such a democratic standard? There is no such a democratic standard. If the president is unable to fulfill the presidential duties, the vice-president fulfills them in the US,” he added.

“If the vice-president is unable to fulfill the presidential duties, then unelected ministers fulfill those duties. No one calls this undemocratic,” said Aliyev.

“Media reports say the Cabinet of Ministers can’t be the driving force of the reforms, which are held in the country,” he said. “To some extent, one can agree with this opinion. The Cabinet of Ministers couldn’t play a leading role in the economic situation which changes every month and in the financial policy which also changes every month, because the institutional structure of the Cabinet of Ministers, its activities are not meant for carrying out this work. Therefore, it is necessary to have an institution taking operative measures.”

Another dissatisfaction of the Venice Commission is related to giving the president the authority to dissolve the parliament, he said.

“This is a demand of the day. A stalemate situation can emerge in the parliament’s work as well. The media reports said that in a number of cases, the draft laws submitted by the president were not adopted in the parliament,” said Shahin Aliyev. “Then how can France’s president easily dissolve the parliament?”

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