Wednesday,
Pension Reform Bill Approved By Parliament
• Nane Sahakian
Armenia - A session of the National Assembly in Yerevan, 8 February 2018.
The National Assembly approved on Wednesday the new Armenian government’s
decision to complete an unpopular reform of the country’s pension system which
was launched four years ago.
The new Western-backed system is to cover 280,000 or so Armenian workers born
after 1973. It requires them to earn most of their future pensions with monthly
financial contributions to one of two private pension funds operating in
Armenia. Both funds are owned by European companies.
The former government, which embarked on the pension reform in January 2014,
said that the existing mechanism for retirement benefits is not sustainable
because of Armenia’s aging and shrinking population. But it decided to make the
new system optional for private sector employees until July 2018 in response to
angry street protests.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian defended the reform when he presented his newly
formed cabinet’s policy program to the parliament earlier this month. But in a
major concession to Armenians affected by it, the cabinet approved on June 11 a
bill that would temporarily cut their pension tax rate from 5 percent to 2.5
percent.
The move prompted Labor and Social Affairs Minister Mane Tandilian, who was one
of the organizers of the 2014 protests, to step down. Her resignation has still
not been formally accepted by Pashinian.
Armenia - Workers demonstrate against a controversial pension reform, Yerevan,
8May2014.
Finance Minister Atom Janjughazian presented the bill to the National Assembly
on Tuesday. He insisted that the effective privatization of the pension system
is “the only way to ensure that people get pensions worthy of their work after
retirement.”
The parliament passed the bill in the first reading by 78 votes to 2. Seven
other deputies abstained. All of them represent the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), Pashinian’s coalition partner which has opposed
the reform.
The Dashnaktsutyun-affiliated Minister for Economic Artsvik Minasian openly
objected to the bill on June 11. His objections clearly irritated Pashinian,
who said that all ministers must share “collective responsibility” for
government policies.
Businessman Gagik Tsarukian’s bloc, which is also part of the ruling coalition,
has also criticized the reform in the past. Still, most of its deputies voted
for making the new system mandatory for all Armenians aged 44 and younger. One
of them, Mikael Melkumian, said Janjughazian’s remarks on the parliament floor
largely dispelled their misgivings for the time being.
Deputies from the Yelk alliance, of which Pashinian is a leader, likewise
voiced conditional support for the bill. Edmon Marukian, another Yelk leader,
said he expects the new government to consider modifying the new system later
on. Pashinian made clear later on Tuesday that he is open to such discussions.
According to government officials, over 200,000 people are already covered by
the new pension plan.
Former Authorities ‘Knew About Ex-General’s Corruption’
• Ruzanna Stepanian
Armenia - Parliament deputy Artur Gevorgian speaks to journalists in Yerevan,
.
Armenia’s previous governments were aware of retired General Manvel Grigorian’s
corrupt activities but did not allow law-enforcement bodies to prosecute him, a
lawmaker until recently affiliated with the former ruling Republican Party
(HHK) claimed on Wednesday.
Artur Gevorgian also said that many other individuals in the country are even
more corrupt that Grigorian, who was arrested on Saturday on charges of illegal
arms possession and embezzlement.
“In terms of corrupt practices, Manvel Grigorian is probably not on the top 100
list [of corrupt persons] of this country,” he told reporters.
“They [law-enforcement bodies] now got a permission to catch him and they
caught him,” he said. “They didn’t have permission before and so they didn’t
catch him.”
Gevorgian is one of several parliamentarians who have defected from the HHK
since the former ruling party’s leader, Serzh Sarkisian, resigned as Armenia’s
prime minister on April 23 amid massive protests against his continued rule.
Significantly, the 43-year-old former boxer is the son-in-law of Vladimir
Gasparian, the former chief of the Armenian police.
Gasparian was fired two days after the Armenian parliament elected Nikol
Pashinian as prime minister on May 8. He ran the national police service for
seven years.
Independent and opposition-linked media outlets have long accused General
Grigorian, who served as deputy defense minister from 2000-2008, of corruption,
violent conduct and other abuses.
Grigorian strongly supported Sarkisian throughout the latter’s decade-long rule
and was twice elected to the parliament on the HHK ticket. He has headed the
Yerkrapah Union, an influential organization uniting thousands of veterans of
the Karabakh war, for almost two decades.
The ex-general was arrested immediately after officers of the National Security
Service (NSS) raided his expensive properties in and around Echmiadzin, a
historic town about 20 kilometers west of Yerevan. They found there large
quantities of not only weapons but also food and other supplies meant for
Armenian army soldiers.
An NSS video of the search caused widespread shock and indignation in the
country. The parliament swiftly agreed on Tuesday to lift Grigorian’s immunity
from prosecution.
Investigators claimed on Wednesday to have confiscated more canned food which
they believe was embezzled by Grigorian and hoarded in at least two other
locations, including a house in Karabakh owned by him.
Press Review
“Zhamanak” wonders if the new Armenian government’s anti-corruption drive will
target “the former number one figures” of the state. The paper suggests in this
regard that the arrested General Manvel Grigorian could have hardly embezzled
supplies to the armed forces without Serzh Sarkisian’s knowledge.
“Hraparak” also says that Grigorian’s arrest and embarrassing revelations made
by the National Security Service (NSS) raise many questions about the scale of
corruption in the country and the armed forces in particular. The paper says
law-enforcement authorities must look into the possible involvement of other
senior military officials in such illegal activities.
“Zhoghovurd” likewise tries to understand “how all this happened” and who
Manvel Grigorian’s “accomplices” are. “It is evident that Grigorian did not act
alone,” writes the paper. “And as the head of the National Security Service,
Artur Vanetsian, said the other day, further sensational revelations await us.
We are talking not just about members of the Yerkrapah Union and the general’s
friends but also members of his family. In this sense exposures have already
begun and it is Manvel Grigorian’s wife, Colonel Nazik Amirian, who has
primarily found herself at the center of law-enforcers’ attention.”
“Aravot” reports that the Armenian police “disarmed” on Tuesday Hovannes
Hovsepian, the former head of the State Revenue Committee and Serzh Sarkisian’s
Oversight Service, and his bodyguards. “Police officers stopped his motorcade
and found a whole arsenal in their cars,” says the paper. “The current and
former officials and oligarchs have such a habit of moving around the city in a
motorcade of several cars. This is their preferred method of asserting
themselves.” It hopes to see similar operations against dozens of other
notorious individuals “so that they realize that their time is gone and that
they are not feudal authorities anymore.”
(Tigran Avetisian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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