Today the Armenian National Congress is going to organize a demonstration in Freedom square of Yerevan. This is the first demonstration after a long-lasting break, which may be crowded due to the fact that several opposition powers want to unite and also there is some movement due to the government’s initiative for creation of a compulsory pension fund. Even though the ANC targets more people at the demonstration, if they succeed in bringing a lot of people to the square, it may become a challenge for them.
At a presentation yesterday on the topic of “National Brand Strategy: Tasks and Perspectives” in Yerevan the Armenian society was informed of an initiative that would bring an American company to help Armenia to help the country develop a competitive brand strategy. The total cost of this project will be 450,000 USD, 150,000 out of which will be paid by the Armenian government.
The question “What is the lesson of Ukraine” is often heard in almost all post-soviet states. This matter should concern both the Armenian government and opposition. But we see that the Armenian politicians not only don’t answer any of those questions but also close their ears in order not to even hear the question. And it should first of all be the Armenian government that should learn lessons from Ukraine.
The recent bill on compulsory pension fund creation launched political processes which highlight the fact that Armenia’s governance is poor and the government is anti-democratic. President Serzh Sargsyan openly announced that 80 per cent of the society is against this proposal, and that the government is minority.
The parliamentary four non-government political parties failed to come to an agreement on bringing up a bill to start a process of impeachment. The official explanation is that these powers have decided to let the ANC develop their decision on creation of a commission to look into the events of March 1 as the anniversary is closer.
One year ago, on February 18, 2013, there was presidential election in Armenia, as a result of which the incumbent president Serzh Sargsyan won the election in the first vote. Formally the second candidate after the president that lost the election was Raffi Hovhannisyan, who in spite of many forecasts collected 540,000 votes (37 per cent). In fact one year ago the one who lost the election for Serzh Sargsyan was not Raffi Hovhannisyan but the Armenian society.
Today we were informed that the EU 13 countries have worked out an action plan for continuing cooperation with countries of the Eastern Partnership project. In Armenia this project is called “European Package.”
In Armenia we notice a shocking phenomenon. The government calls all of its actions, even the most negative with a lofty goal – “We are doing it for the people.” It means they usually do it for the people, whose pockets are emptied for this goal.
While the society and political powers are waiting till the decree of the Constitutional Court on the government-proposed pension fund law on March 28, the Central Bank has come up with an announcement which demolished all expectations of the society from the Constitutional Court.
The summarized indexes of the year are not ready yet but according to the National Statistics Service in January-September DFI in Armenia reduced by 62,1% (about three times) and amounted to 409,6 million. So we should sadly record that in 2013 the picture is dire. Under these circumstances we have two options.
