MediaMax, Armenia
Feb 14 2020
Yerevan /Mediamax/. During the working visit to Germany, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan delivered a comprehensive speech at Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) in Berlin on February 13.
Mediamax has selected particularly noteworthy remarks by the Prime Minister, which you can read below.
On corruption
Revolutions are usually followed by formation of a new government and fight against the corruption inherited from the previous authorities. However, for Armenia, there is no past and present corruption. Since 2018, several deputy ministers I appointed have been detained and just a few weeks ago head of Urban Development Committee was arrested on corruption charges. The latter is the highest-ranking official to be arrested in the history of the third Armenian republic.
On vision and education
In the nearest future I will present our strategic vision for Armenia for 2020-2050. It includes a point, which indicates that education must become national lifestyle in the Republic of Armenia.
We believe that the attitude toward education has to change in Armenia. Education is a process that lasts your whole life, and it should become an integral and unquestionable part of our daily work.
On Constitutional Court and the referendum
Our country has long had its judiciary controlled by the government. Our task is not to establish our own control over the judiciary, but to create guarantees that the judiciary can be truly independent and unbiased.
If the outcome of the referendum is positive, the president and the government together with the assembly of judges will nominate candidates for judges to the Constitutional Court, and we will have a Constitutional Court which adheres to our Constitution. The agenda of the parliament of Armenia also includes amendments to the Judicial Code, which indicate that all newly appointed judges, including candidates for Constitutional Court judges, must undergo integrity testing at the Commission on Prevention of Corruption.
On democracy
Democracy is irreversible in Armenia.
Democracy, the rule of law, protection of human rights, good governance and transparency are demands that come from the mentality of our people. Therefore, democracy has a solid foundation in Armenia, built with the perceptions, mentality and culture of our nation.