Epress.am News from Armenia
The revised bill on the funded pension system was to have been put to a vote in the National Assembly today; however, National Assembly President Galust Sahakyan said the voting will be postponed and the parliament will proceed to discuss other matters.
The reason, according to the reporters present, is the few number of MPs in the room: the vote was postponed so the ruling Republican Party of Armenia MPs have time to make it to the National Assembly. Note, due to French President François Hollande's visit, traffic on some major streets in Yerevan (including Baghramyan Avenue, where the parliament building is located) has come to a standstill.
Recall, at a special meeting of the National Assembly yesterday, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) faction announced that it will vote in favor of the revised bill, the Armenian National Congress declared it is opposed, and the Prosperous Armenia Party was still mulling it over.
According to the new law, which came into force on Jan. 1, 2014, employed citizens in Armenia born after 1973 are required to pay 5–10% of their monthly gross salaries to one of two private pension funds determined by the government. They would be able to access their funds when they turn 63 (the age of retirement for both men and women in Armenia). In December 2013, 36 MPs from the four non-ruilng parties in parliament filed an application with the Constitutional Court, arguing that several provisions of the new law were unconstitutional. The plaintiffs asked the Court to revoke the mandatory component of the law.
On April 2, the Constitutional Court ruled that the mandatory component was unconstitutional, and the Government of the Republic of Armenia and the RA National Assembly have until September 30 this year to revise the law to comply with the requirements of the Constitutional Court ruling.