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THEY EMIGRATE INSTEAD OF PUNISHING THIEVES
Interview with Ani Kaghinyan, economist, lawyer, civic activist
It is often said that gas price increase is an economic, not a
political issue. Why?
The civic initiative Stop Gas Price Increase wants to believe that it
is not a political issue but everything proves that it is. Yesterday
the press reported that the minister of energy is in Moscow negotiating
with Gazprom on giving the Armenian government's 20% of shares of
ARG Company. This is already a political issue. The Public Services
Regulatory Commission refused to publish the agreement because it was
said to be a commercial secret. The society may lose confidence in the
RA government and the PSRC due to such confidentiality. Aram Grigoryan,
a member of the initiative, produced some economic calculations and
proved that if the monitoring unit of the PSRC and generally the PSRC
had been efficient, we would have avoided gas price increase. Besides,
the PSRC initiated this process of increasing the electricity tariffs
with a violation of law and passed an unlawful decision. The members
of the initiative are going to apply to the administrative court
and restore their rights though they know that the judicial system
is inactive.
Is there any progress after one month of work?
Our initiative was launched on 16 May 2013, so it is too early to
speak about achievements. We want to establish the culture of pursuing
exercise of our rights. Every day we hear news about how the state
budget is stolen. Referring to this bulk of information the society
can express no confidence to all the government agencies. We want
people to understand that it is possible to achieve change only by way
of protecting our own rights and enforcement of law. The initiative
includes people representing different professions, social groups and
views. I think this is the key strength of this initiative. We all
understand that our constitutional right has been violated because
our constitution states that Armenia is a social state. We invited all
the political parties and intellectuals who have declared themselves
alternative or opposition to the government but very few have responded
which causes doubt indeed.
Why is interest in gas price low? After all we all are affected by it.
The government and the opposition deceive people after every election.
This time too, people were disappointed and shocked. It is hard to
recover deceived people from this shock. They are like a patient who
does not want to live. Now I know that few people join us because
people are thinking about one thing - how to emigrate as soon as
possible. However, I am sure that the people who cherish their
homeland, their own rights will take to the streets. It will be in
November or December, when life will be 3 times more expensive as they
will get 3 times higher bills for heating their homes. I want people
to understand the issue now when we could prevent it by exercising
our rights. We all know that 35% of the economy of Armenia is in
the shadow. Now I am asking myself a question. If this economy does
not pay for gas and electricity, we the consumers will have to pay
for them. Again, they steal and cheat, while we emigrate instead of
punishing them.
Tehmineh Yenokyan 17:06 20/06/2013 Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/index/eng/0/interview/view/30236
From: Baghdasarian
Interview with Ani Kaghinyan, economist, lawyer, civic activist
It is often said that gas price increase is an economic, not a
political issue. Why?
The civic initiative Stop Gas Price Increase wants to believe that it
is not a political issue but everything proves that it is. Yesterday
the press reported that the minister of energy is in Moscow negotiating
with Gazprom on giving the Armenian government's 20% of shares of
ARG Company. This is already a political issue. The Public Services
Regulatory Commission refused to publish the agreement because it was
said to be a commercial secret. The society may lose confidence in the
RA government and the PSRC due to such confidentiality. Aram Grigoryan,
a member of the initiative, produced some economic calculations and
proved that if the monitoring unit of the PSRC and generally the PSRC
had been efficient, we would have avoided gas price increase. Besides,
the PSRC initiated this process of increasing the electricity tariffs
with a violation of law and passed an unlawful decision. The members
of the initiative are going to apply to the administrative court
and restore their rights though they know that the judicial system
is inactive.
Is there any progress after one month of work?
Our initiative was launched on 16 May 2013, so it is too early to
speak about achievements. We want to establish the culture of pursuing
exercise of our rights. Every day we hear news about how the state
budget is stolen. Referring to this bulk of information the society
can express no confidence to all the government agencies. We want
people to understand that it is possible to achieve change only by way
of protecting our own rights and enforcement of law. The initiative
includes people representing different professions, social groups and
views. I think this is the key strength of this initiative. We all
understand that our constitutional right has been violated because
our constitution states that Armenia is a social state. We invited all
the political parties and intellectuals who have declared themselves
alternative or opposition to the government but very few have responded
which causes doubt indeed.
Why is interest in gas price low? After all we all are affected by it.
The government and the opposition deceive people after every election.
This time too, people were disappointed and shocked. It is hard to
recover deceived people from this shock. They are like a patient who
does not want to live. Now I know that few people join us because
people are thinking about one thing - how to emigrate as soon as
possible. However, I am sure that the people who cherish their
homeland, their own rights will take to the streets. It will be in
November or December, when life will be 3 times more expensive as they
will get 3 times higher bills for heating their homes. I want people
to understand the issue now when we could prevent it by exercising
our rights. We all know that 35% of the economy of Armenia is in
the shadow. Now I am asking myself a question. If this economy does
not pay for gas and electricity, we the consumers will have to pay
for them. Again, they steal and cheat, while we emigrate instead of
punishing them.
Tehmineh Yenokyan 17:06 20/06/2013 Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/index/eng/0/interview/view/30236
From: Baghdasarian