Minasian: Defendant did not present objections on voiced problems

The sides are making their closing remarks today at the Constitutional Court’s hearing of the Law on Accumulative pensions. Parliamentary deputy, ARFD Party member Artsvik Minasian said in his speech that in fact, no objections were raised concerning all the issues they voiced.

In his words, many of the statements made by the defendant prove that the plaintiff’s claims are correct. Artsvik Minasian discussed the statement of Armenian Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Artyom Asatrian regarding insurance of the social security system. In this connection Minasian noted that the idea of a single income tax changed the whole philosophy and confronted the country with a social fait accompli.

Speaking about the statements by Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) Nerses Yeritsian, the ARFD deputy said the CBA not only exceeded its powers established by the Constitution of Armenia and failed to submit a well-founded program, but it also tries to prove by its statements that the system is stable.

“Numerous economists, including those from international financial markets, believe that the main task of CBA is to ensure price stability, which is also enshrined in our Constitution. Ensuring the price stability is at variance with regulation of the financial system, while the accumulative system’s introduction reduces state obligations and in case of a contradiction, the CBA shall ensure price stability, therefore well-to-do life of pensioners in old age is endangered,” Minasian said.

“An opinion was expressed that the voluntary system has been in effect since 2010. It does not correspond to reality because the last act related to that system was adopted in 2013. And it is no accident that such a fund was registered for the first time in the first half of 2013,” the deputy said.