Epress.am News from Armenia
During discussion of the 2014 state budget in parliament today, Armenian National Congress (HAK) MP Nikol Pashinyan once again spoke about the penalties for traffic violations.
"How is it that we pay a lot, but very little goes into the budget? Because entered in the press and in public consciousness is [the idea that Armenian President] Serzh Sargsyan’s brother Alexander Sargsyan commands that money, and this year, again according to the media, 4.2 billion dram [about $10,347,600 USD] was collected," he said.
The opposition MP said he cannot vote for a document "which states that the number of military recruits has declined and continues to decline, the number of students has declined and will continue to decline, and the number of births has declined and will continue to decline."
"This is simply a desperate budget, Mr. Prime Minister. Now a question might arise: is there not a single point in that 1,200-page budget that inspires optimism today? There is perhaps a small point that includes it and that is that the government has considered possible internal political instability among its risks. It's true, political instability, to be honest, is not such a good thing, but when some swampy situation is widespread, people try to look for hope in such places. This is why the activities of Shant Harutyunyan and his friends elicited a positive reaction from some circles of society, because people see that this government, these authorities have blocked all the roads to change. I want to say that this places a special obligation on the opposition because the opposition is obliged to lead the people not to desperate actions but to calculated actions and lead them to civic, economic, and political victories. I want to believe that in the near future in Armenia an alliance of such political and civic forces will be formed that will finally help the people overcome this element of despair not with words but with deeds," he said.