Armenia\u2019s Government on Thursday adopted a decision which largely violates the precepts for transparency and openness in the Cabinet\u2019s activities. After the decision is put into force, Government hearings will be held behind closed doors and no hearing records will be released to the public; what\u2019s more, ministers will not be allowed to publish any information about the topics and matters discussed at the hearing. The aforementioned restrictions can somehow be alleviated only by the Prime Minister\u2019s permission.<\/p>\n
Note, the limitations are included in the most widely discussed provision of the law on the government\u2019s structure and activities. Participants of the public discussion on the E-draft website have been expressing their resentment at the authorities apparent intention to largely \u00a0reduce transparency and accountability in the Cabinet\u2019s work.<\/p>\n
Government representatives, however, have been quick to ensure the annoyed commenters that \u201cthe Prime Minister will make sure that the public regularly receives information about the Government\u2019s activities.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy are turning the ministers into puppets? Where did the [ruling] Republican Party\u2019s proclaimed democracy go? You\u2019re trying to limit our right to information; does the Government plan to engage in behind-the-curtain activities?\u201d one of the participants of the discussion argued.<\/p>\n
By the current law, nearly all Government hearings are held openly, with the exception of those which concern state, administrative, or top secret matters. The Government\u2019s press service also publishes summarizing reports after each hearing on the issues discussed by the Cabinet.<\/p>\n
Recall, in upcoming April, Armenia will shift to a parliamentary mode of governance, which entails an increase in the Prime Minister\u2019s power and role. The widely shared opinion in the country is that the ruling Republican Party of Armenia will undoubtedly elect current president and RPA leader Serzh Sargsyan for the position.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Recall, in upcoming April, Armenia will shift to a parliamentary mode of governance, which entails an increase in the Prime Minister\u2019s power and role. The widely shared opinion in the country is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tstyn_error":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283432"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=283432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283432\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}