IT'S A MATTER OF 1.5 BILLION EUROS"
Arman Galoyan
Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/engsrc/country26698.html
Published: 17:02:41 - 28/06/2012
According to Radio Liberty, the European Union has postponed the donor
conference for Armenia hinting that the parliamentary elections didn't
match their expectations, and that Brussels will wait until the 2013
presidential elections. We talked to economist Vahagn Khachatryan,
ANC member, on this issue.
How would you interpret this decision?
There were rumors before the elections that the European Union will
provide financial support to Armenia. If you remember, the prime
minister left for Brussels at the beginning of this month. But he
had no success. Now, Serzh Sargsyan himself left for Brussels to save
the situation. But he also failed.
Why?
First of all, they focused on the quality of the elections. This is
interesting especially against the background of the OSCE/ODIHR report
which made rough assessments of the elections. It is not accidental
that the conference has been postponed until the presidential election
2013. Besides, there are other reasons relating to the NKR issue,
economic reforms, corruption etc. The authorities used to say that the
RPA election list will host no oligarchs but they didn't keep their
promise and nothing changed. The same oligarchs are now in parliament.
They had made promises also relating to the economic reforms but
nothing changes and Armenia keeps moving backward. The same relates to
the fight against corruption. Armenia is the same corrupt, futureless,
authoritarian state. This is why the Europeans don't want to support
Armenia.
What amount of money are we speaking about?
This is a matter of 1.5 billion euros for three years, which is quite
a lot for Armenia. They are keeping Tigran Sargsyan in the post of
PM to bring money from other countries, while we saw his visit to
Brussels fail.
Do you think after the election 2013, Europeans will finally issue
financial support to Armenia?
We still need to arrive in 2013. In economic terms, this year will
be worse. We have serious issues with Russia and we will feel the
consequences. Transfers coming from Russia will drop. Gas bills are
expected to go up, there are other issues relating to Nairit Company
of Yerevan. The Russians are prone to reveal energy abuse. So, the
situation is more complicated than we can imagine.
Arman Galoyan
Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/engsrc/country26698.html
Published: 17:02:41 - 28/06/2012
According to Radio Liberty, the European Union has postponed the donor
conference for Armenia hinting that the parliamentary elections didn't
match their expectations, and that Brussels will wait until the 2013
presidential elections. We talked to economist Vahagn Khachatryan,
ANC member, on this issue.
How would you interpret this decision?
There were rumors before the elections that the European Union will
provide financial support to Armenia. If you remember, the prime
minister left for Brussels at the beginning of this month. But he
had no success. Now, Serzh Sargsyan himself left for Brussels to save
the situation. But he also failed.
Why?
First of all, they focused on the quality of the elections. This is
interesting especially against the background of the OSCE/ODIHR report
which made rough assessments of the elections. It is not accidental
that the conference has been postponed until the presidential election
2013. Besides, there are other reasons relating to the NKR issue,
economic reforms, corruption etc. The authorities used to say that the
RPA election list will host no oligarchs but they didn't keep their
promise and nothing changed. The same oligarchs are now in parliament.
They had made promises also relating to the economic reforms but
nothing changes and Armenia keeps moving backward. The same relates to
the fight against corruption. Armenia is the same corrupt, futureless,
authoritarian state. This is why the Europeans don't want to support
Armenia.
What amount of money are we speaking about?
This is a matter of 1.5 billion euros for three years, which is quite
a lot for Armenia. They are keeping Tigran Sargsyan in the post of
PM to bring money from other countries, while we saw his visit to
Brussels fail.
Do you think after the election 2013, Europeans will finally issue
financial support to Armenia?
We still need to arrive in 2013. In economic terms, this year will
be worse. We have serious issues with Russia and we will feel the
consequences. Transfers coming from Russia will drop. Gas bills are
expected to go up, there are other issues relating to Nairit Company
of Yerevan. The Russians are prone to reveal energy abuse. So, the
situation is more complicated than we can imagine.