Epress.am News from Armenia
The ruling coalition — the Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) and Rule of Law (OEK) — will not take part in a special meeting at 12 pm today called by the other four factions in parliament on the matter of mandatory pension contributions, OEK MP Hovhannes Margaryan said earlier today. Therefore, due to lack of quorum, the meeting will not take place.
Margaryan explained that opposition parties initially decided to discuss at the meeting the matter of delaying the introduction of mandatory pension contributions till early 2015, but later they saw the need to discuss the law itself; that is, to change the pension system, and this is unacceptable for the coalition. According to Margaryan, the law passed through three readings and was adopted, and major amendments cannot be introduced at this stage.
Speaking to Epress.am, head of the Armenian National Congress (HAK) parliamentary faction Levon Zurabyan said that "we know we're dealing with cowardly authorities who are afraid of discussions."
Prosperous Armenia (BHK) MP Vahe Hovhannisyan said he predicted that the special meeting might not happen, since "they always do this when it comes to important issues."
In HAK MP Nikol Pashinyan's opinion, the coalition is boycotting the meeting because there is glaring evidence of serious risks in the law, and the government hasn't dispelled those fears. The opposition MP said that parliamentary speaker Hovik Abrahamyan, after being elected in 2008, spoke about enhancing the role of the National Assembly, but "he's not increasing the role with luxuries but with content."
According to Pashinyan, everything is being done so that the National Assembly discusses matters that are not on the agenda, while important issues are left out of discussion, as in this case.
The HAK, Heritage Party, BHK, and Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun, or ARF-D) parliamentary factions had proposed the special meeting. Last week, several community initiatives and political forces in Armenia issued statements on the mandatory pension contributions, proposing amendments to the law.