Council of the EU reaffirms continuous support to reforms being implemented in Armenia

Today, First Deputy Minister of Justice of the Republic of Armenia Artur Hovhannisyan had a meeting with the delegation of the Working Group of the Council of the European Union for Eastern Europe and Central Asia led by Jutta Edthofer.

During the meeting, the parties touched upon a number of reforms that the Ministry of Justice is implementing in the judicial-legal sector.

According to Jutta Edthofer, due to electoral processes, Armenia is currently in a major period, and the delegation is here to reaffirm the continuous support of the Council of the European Union to the plans for reforms under implementation.

The First Deputy Minister expressed confidence that, irrespective of political processes, reforms in the judicial-legal sector are primary for the Republic of Armenia since they are in the interests of citizens. Artur Hovhannisyan presented to the counterparts the reforms implemented in the judicial-legal sector which, firstly, address the strengthening of an independent judicial authority that will be accountable to the law. The Deputy Minister specified increase in the number of judges, review of salaries, complete introduction of electronic notifications and electronic justice systems, as well as development of the system of free legal aid as processes that will be implemented in the near future. He also touched upon the planned changes connected with bankruptcy proceedings that are targeted at essential reduction of time limits of and expenses for the proceedings, as well as increase of the transparency and accountability of the actions of bankruptcy managers.

Summing up the presentation of activities for judicial and legal reforms, Artur Hovhannisyan expressed confidence that the processes would have their positive impact on improvement of the business climate in Armenia and emphasised that the reforms would have a major influence on the fight against corruption.

Touching upon the future actions and the needs that require assistance, the Deputy Minister emphasised the need for possible support for the development of laws on civil and administrative procedures, enforcement proceedings, as well as a number of other laws. Afterwards, he answered the questions of his counterparts’ interest.

At the end of the meeting, Jutta Edthofer expressed gratitude to Artur Hovhannisyan for a detailed presentation of the process of judicial and legal reforms and emphasised that the Council of the European Union was willing to closely co-operate in the indicated areas in the future as well in order to ensure the incessant process of reforms.