NIKOL PASHINYAN ON THE SOLE 'OPTIMISTIC' POINT IN ARMENIA'S 2014 BUDGET
11.14.2013 20:29 epress.am
During discussion of the 2014 state budget in parliament today,
Armenian National Congress (HAK) MP Nikol Pashinyan once again spoke
about the penalties for traffic violations.
"How is it that we pay a lot, but very little goes into the budget?
Because entered in the press and in public consciousness is [the idea
that Armenian President] Serzh Sargsyan's brother Alexander Sargsyan
commands that money, and this year, again according to the media,
4.2 billion dram [about $10,347,600 USD] was collected," he said.
The opposition MP said he cannot vote for a document "which states that
the number of military recruits has declined and continues to decline,
the number of students has declined and will continue to decline,
and the number of births has declined and will continue to decline."
"This is simply a desperate budget, Mr. Prime Minister. Now a question
might arise: is there not a single point in that 1,200-page budget
that inspires optimism today? There is perhaps a small point that
includes it and that is that the government has considered possible
internal political instability among its risks. It's true, political
instability, to be honest, is not such a good thing, but when some
swampy situation is widespread, people try to look for hope in such
places. This is why the activities of Shant Harutyunyan and his friends
elicited a positive reaction from some circles of society, because
people see that this government, these authorities have blocked all the
roads to change. I want to say that this places a special obligation
on the opposition because the opposition is obliged to lead the people
not to desperate actions but to calculated actions and lead them to
civic, economic, and political victories. I want to believe that in
the near future in Armenia an alliance of such political and civic
forces will be formed that will finally help the people overcome this
element of despair not with words but with deeds," he said.
http://www.epress.am/en/2013/11/14/nikol-pashinyan-on-the-sole-optimistic-point-in-armenias-2014-budget.html
11.14.2013 20:29 epress.am
During discussion of the 2014 state budget in parliament today,
Armenian National Congress (HAK) MP Nikol Pashinyan once again spoke
about the penalties for traffic violations.
"How is it that we pay a lot, but very little goes into the budget?
Because entered in the press and in public consciousness is [the idea
that Armenian President] Serzh Sargsyan's brother Alexander Sargsyan
commands that money, and this year, again according to the media,
4.2 billion dram [about $10,347,600 USD] was collected," he said.
The opposition MP said he cannot vote for a document "which states that
the number of military recruits has declined and continues to decline,
the number of students has declined and will continue to decline,
and the number of births has declined and will continue to decline."
"This is simply a desperate budget, Mr. Prime Minister. Now a question
might arise: is there not a single point in that 1,200-page budget
that inspires optimism today? There is perhaps a small point that
includes it and that is that the government has considered possible
internal political instability among its risks. It's true, political
instability, to be honest, is not such a good thing, but when some
swampy situation is widespread, people try to look for hope in such
places. This is why the activities of Shant Harutyunyan and his friends
elicited a positive reaction from some circles of society, because
people see that this government, these authorities have blocked all the
roads to change. I want to say that this places a special obligation
on the opposition because the opposition is obliged to lead the people
not to desperate actions but to calculated actions and lead them to
civic, economic, and political victories. I want to believe that in
the near future in Armenia an alliance of such political and civic
forces will be formed that will finally help the people overcome this
element of despair not with words but with deeds," he said.
http://www.epress.am/en/2013/11/14/nikol-pashinyan-on-the-sole-optimistic-point-in-armenias-2014-budget.html