The budget draft 2014 is still as mystical as the economic policy of the Armenian government. This is like the decision to join the Customs Union. Neither parliamentary discussions nor experts’ opinions provide substantial information about the topic.
Former Prime Minister Hrant Bagratyan has developed a bill to the parliament aimed at strengthening the national currency.
They have deserved to be on the party list because they are sycophant and flattering. These people have paid a very high price for that because they voluntarily refused their freedom. They cannot say what they are thinking.
“I think it is clear why we have decided to become a member of the Customs Union and get integrated in the Eurasian economic territory. It enables us to build our relations with our strategic partner on a firmer platform. It enables us to get rid the hindering factors of trade. In the recent years intensive processes have been taking place in the framework of the Customs Union and if we don’t get integrated in this Union, new borders will be created for us that will include numerous limitations. This is an impermissible luxury for us. That is the reason why we have made a political decision to be integrated in the Customs Union.”
“Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan’s decision to join the Customs Union instead of signing a Free and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement with the European Union is a step back on the way to integration with Europe, and it is also a step back in Armenia’s modernization and development,” says Amanda Paul, expert of the European Policy Centre (EPC) in Brussels. The EPC is a research center that is involved in European integration issues.
Yesterday the members of the “Say no to gender perversion” initiative organized a protest in Yerevan. They marched to the government building and submitted a letter to the government. This initiative is against the newly elaborated bill on the equality of men and women, which caused so much noise.
Probably the reason is the American government’s partial shutdown. As a result of this, a number of projects have been delayed or cancelled. In foreign policy they delayed actions according to priority sequence. I am not sure if this was the real reason.
Growing emigration is becoming a threat for Armenia. If this trend continues this way, it may become a threat to Armenia’s national security. The issue of emigration is like an alien for the Armenian society – everybody knows about the growing trends, people feel the impact, but nobody knows real numbers.
“Such announcements downgrade the opposition and create weak image for them,” says Armenian National Congress party representative Arman Grigoryan concerning Zarouhi Postanjyan’s question to president Sargsyan whether he has lost money in European casinos.
Yesterday it was revealed that the European Commission had decided to annul all the restrictions for the import of Moldovan wine. This was the response of the EU to Russia, which ceased the import of Moldovan wine on September 11. This is also a response to Armenia’s claims that in the event if Armenia refused to join the Eurasian Union Russia would block the import of Armenia’s goods.
