Tuesday, December 5, 2017 Parliament Majority Blocks Debate On Eurasian Union . Astghik Bedevian Armenia - A session of the National Assembly in Yerevan, 30May2017. The Armenian parliament on Tuesday overwhelmingly refused to debate on a pro-Western opposition alliance's calls for Armenia's withdrawal from the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). A parliamentary declaration drafted by the Yelk alliance says that membership in the EEU, effective from January 2015, has hurt the country's economy and security. Deputies representing the pro-government majority in the National Assembly spoke out against the document when it was first circulated in September. Nevertheless, Yelk continued to press for a full-fledged parliamentary debate on the issue. The parliament committee on foreign relations discussed and gave a negative assessment of the Yelk motion on November 29. Only six deputies, all of them from Yelk, voted for the issue's inclusion on the parliament agenda. Seventy-six others voted against. The latter represent not only the ruling Republican Party (HHK) but also its junior coalition partner, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, and businessman Gagik Tsarukian's alliance. Just before the vote, the HHK's Samvel Farmanian addressed fellow lawmakers and defended the Armenian leadership's foreign policy which aims to complement Armenia's alliance with Russia with closer ties with the West. He implicitly referred to the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) signed by Armenia and the European Union on November 24. "An artificial juxtaposition of the EEU and the EU is not in the interests of Armenia, and I am sure that the faction sitting on our left [Yelk] is utterly conscious of that," said Farmanian. Yelk's Edmon Marukian rebutted that claim. He insisted that the EEU is to blame for rising consumer prices and other economic problems facing Armenia. According to official Armenian statistics, Russia and other EEU member states accounted for about 28 percent of Armenia's foreign trade in January-October 2017. The EU's share in the total stood at just over 24 percent. Immediately after refusing to discuss the Yelk initiative, the parliament began debating a new uniform Customs Code which is due to be adopted by the EEU member states. The draft code calls, among other things, for solely electronic filings of customs declarations and other documents starting from 2020.A deputy head of Armenia's State Revenue Committee, Vakhtang Mirumian, said this would make it easier for Armenian companies to engage in import and export operations. Armenian Government Reports Further Drop In Poverty . Marine Khachatrian Armenia - People read vacancy notices at an open-air job fair in Yerevan, 9Oct2017. Poverty in Armenia continued to fall slowly last year despite sluggish economic growth, the National Statistical Service (NSS) said on Tuesday. In an annual report, the government agency said 29.4 percent of Armenians lived below the official poverty line as of the end of 2016, down from 29.8 percent in 2015. The poverty line is set at almost 40,900 drams ($85) per month. The NSS regards as "very poor" over a third of some 880,000 Armenians whose average monthly income did not exceed that figure. Another 54,000 people are considered "extremely poor," NSS officials said as they presented the report to journalists in Yerevan. Adrine Babloyan of the Yerevan office of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) also spoke at the news conference. Babloyan expressed concern over the fact that at 34.2 percent the poverty rate among Armenian children was still above the nationwide average. And it did not shrink considerably in 2016, she said. Poverty fell more rapidly during an almost a decade of double-digit economic growth in Armenia that came to an end with the onset of a global financial crisis in late 2008. It stood at 27.6 percent at that time but soared to almost 36 percent in 2010, one year after the country's Gross Domestic Product shrunk by over 14 percent. Economic growth has been modest since then. It all but ground to a halt in 2016 but seems to have significantly accelerated this year. NSS data released in recent months suggests that the Armenian economy is now on course to expand by at least 4 percent. Senior government officials have said that rapid poverty reduction is contingent on an economic growth rate of at least 5 percent. Prime Minister Karen Karapetian's cabinet set this annual growth target in its five-year policy program approved by parliament in June. The 120-page program says that sustained faster growth will cut poverty to about 18 percent by 2022. Using a different methodology, the World Bank has recorded lower poverty rates in Armenia. According to it, just under 25 percent of Armenians lived in poverty in 2016. In a report released in May, the bank forecast that the poverty rate will fall to 22.2 percent in 2019. The NSS currently estimates the average monthly wage in the country at just over 190,000 drams ($394).The official rate of unemployment exceeds 20 percent. Government Adamant On Ending Amnesty For Cash . Karlen Aslanian Armenia - Armenian army soldiers are lined up at a military base in Tavush province, 2Dec2016. Despite strong objections voiced by senior lawmakers from the ruling Republican Party (HHK), the Armenian government remains determined to scrap in 2019 a law allowing men, who have illegally evaded military service, to buy an amnesty. Under a law first enacted in 2004, they have been able to avoid criminal prosecution in exchange for a hefty fee. The amnesty-for-cash scheme was originally applicable to fugitive men born before 1978. This age threshold has been repeatedly raised since then. The Armenian parliament approved another extension last month. A relevant HHK-drafted bill passed in the first reading will apply to male citizens who have turned 27 before December 1, 2017. They would have to pay roughly 3.6 million drams ($7,440) each. Earlier in November, the Defense Ministry put forward an amendment stipulating that there will be no further extensions of the scheme. The parliament committee on defense and security rejected the amendment strongly criticized by its chairman and several members affiliated with the HHK. They included Karine Achemian, one of the authors of the bill. The National Assembly debated the bill in the second reading on Tuesday. Deputy Defense Minister Artak Zakarian made clear that the government is adamant in ensuring that the amnesty-for-cash arrangement is not extended beyond December 2019. He insisted that it only encourages draft evasion. "At some point the law will cease to be a mechanism for avoiding military service," Zakarian said during the final debate. "As a result of discussions with its authors, we arrived at common conclusions, so to speak." "It appears that the government does not intend to extend the law further because we don't want to encourage people to flee [Armenia] # After all, we are a country at war," Achemian told fellow parliamentarians. Speaking to RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) later in the day, Achemian confirmed that she no longer objects to the government's stance. Officials say that around 10,000 draft dodgers have bought an amnesty since 2004. Almost 9,500 other Armenian men remain on the run on draft evasion charges. Top Armenian General Forced To Quit Army . Sargis Harutyunyan Armenia - Lieutenant-General Haykaz Baghmanian, deputy chief of the Armenian army's General Staff, 28Jan2015. One of Armenia's most influential army generals was sacked on Tuesday after being publicly rebuked by Defense Minister Vigen Sargsian. President Serzh Sarkisian relieved Lieutenant-General Haykaz Baghmanian of his duties as deputy chief of the Armenian army's General Staff just hours after the extraordinary criticism. Speaking to reporters, Sargsian said Baghmanian has asked to be discharged from the military "at my urging." He accused the latter of failure to comply with unspecified "working agreements" which is "incompatible with further joint service." The minister did not elaborate. Baghmanian has held the position since 2009. The former Soviet army officer had previously commanded two of Armenia's army corps. Baghmanian has long been under media spotlight because of his reported business interests and lavish lifestyle that raised questions about his integrity. He has also been occasionally dogged by controversy. Last year, for example, an entrepreneur from the eastern Armenian town of Martuni alleged that Baghmanian has gained ownership of one of his businesses by fraudulent means. The general denied the allegation. The business in question, a liquefied gas station, is now run by his 28-year-old son. In 2010, the Hetq.am investigative publication reported that Baghmanian was spotted at a requiem service held for a deceased crime figure. Armenia - President Serzh Sarkisian (R) and Defense Minister Vigen Sargsian visit the Yerablur military cemetery in Yerevan, 2Apr2017. Hakob Badalian, a Yerevan-based political analyst, suggested that by openly attacking and forcing Baghmanian to quit Sargsian sought to demonstrate that he has sufficient authority over the military. "This is a signal to foreign powers, the Armenian public and the ruling clique regarding Vigen Sargsian's political clout in the armed forces," Badalian told RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am). Sargsian, 42, is widely regarded a prot g and potential successor of President Sarkisian. He was the chief of the presidential staff before being appointed as defense minister just over a year ago. Meeting senior military officials in late October, Sarkisian pledged to "modernize" Armenia's army through a seven-year plan of actions which he said will be launched less than three months before he completes his final presidential term in April. Press Review According to "Haykakan Zhamanak," analysts are pessimistic about a fresh meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers scheduled for December 6 because "there is nothing new about the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict." "Everyone is sticking to their guns and nothing suggests that the parties could reach a common denominator in the foreseeable future," writes the paper. "Hayots Ashkhar" says, for its part, that the weekend military exercises in Nagorno-Karabakh testify to "positive changes in not only the international community's attitudes towards the negotiation process but also Armenian perceptions of their essence." The paper says that the official scenario of the drills, which involved defensive and counteroffensive operations, "mirrored our latest successes on the diplomatic front." All international mediators and major foreign powers, it claims, came up with initiatives in November aimed at keeping the Karabakh conflict "frozen." It says that Turkey's efforts to reverse this trend by getting Russia to put pressure on Armenia have ended in failure. "Zhoghovurd" shrugs off recent government pledges to seriously clamp down on corruption in Armenia. The paper says that in making such statements government officials try to look so serious that "they almost start believing what they say." "They started those shows long ago but those have intensified of late," it speculates, seeing a connection between the government's anti-corruption rhetoric and the signing of Armenia's landmark agreement with the EU. "It is laughable to see the authorities fight against a vice which is the reason why they came into existence in the first place," it says. "Past" says that the Armenia-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) is first and foremost a "political document." "For Serzh Sarkisian, this is the only diplomatic victory of his ten-year tenure," writes the paper. "In the existing situation, it is also a huge carte blanche for his legitimacy. And it's a carte blanche from both Russia and Europe." (Tigran Avetisian) Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL Copyright (c) 2017 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc. 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org