APPRECIATION

M arch 20, 2010

Yesterday the European Parliamentary Assembly held a monitoring
session in Paris, during which they discussed the timeline suggested
by the Armenian government. According to the timeline written by
the head of the Armenian delegation to the PACE davit Harutyunyan,
the Armenian government has taken the responsibility to reform the
judicial system and adopt the necessary changes in the parliament
till the end of the year to provide an opportunity to get prepared
for the next elections in 2011. The government is also undertaking
a responsibility to make other "beautiful reforms", about which they
are speaking only in case the European institutions demand anything
from Armenia. To note, on February 2 the co-rapporteurs on Armenia
John Prescott and George Colombier in their statement demanded from
the Armenian government to develop a timeline of reforms till the
session in April for the purpose of implementing the assignments of
the ad hoc looking into the events of March 1 and the corresponding
resolutions of the EU. According to the co-rapporteurs, the goal of
the initiative had to be the detailed investigation of the conditions
resulting in the events of March 1-2. Even though the implementation of
steps in the timeline prepared by Davit Harutyunyan have nothing to do
with the detailed investigation of the events, it was approved by the
co-rapporteurs during yesterday’s session of the monitoring committee.

Davit Harutyunyan has told the Radio Liberty that George Colombier
gave a positive opinion to the timeline and appreciated the will of the
Armenian government to make reports. The PACE co-rapporteurs have again
demonstrated their decisive approach and are going to visit Armenia
in April to evaluate the implementation of the steps in the timeline.