ARMENIA: SECRET OF GAS AGREEMENTS
Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
feb 11 2014
11 February 2014 - 2:08pm
Susanna Petrosyan, Yerevan. Exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza
Interest to Armenian-Russian gas agreements is still high. Citizens are
concerned about gas prices which surpass the last year price by 30%.
Recently the spring session of the National Assembly (NA) has begun.
49 MPs from four opposition parties (Armenian National Congress (ANC),
Dashnaktsutyun, Heritage, and Prosperous Armenia) proposed establishing
of a non-permanent parliamentary commission. Two problems are included
into the agenda of the commission - $300-million debt accumulated by
the Armenian side to Gazprom from 2010, which was kept in secret by
the government from the NA and the population. And the second question
is why prices for gas which costs $189 per 1 thousand cubic meters at
the Georgian-Armenian border, including transit through the Georgian
territory, is provided for customers in Armenia for $393.
The opposition activists plan that the commission would be a body of
control over governmental actions in the sphere of signing criminal
contracts, according to them.
The opposition tried to persuade the parliamentary majority (the
Republican Party of Armenia and the Rule of Law) that the commission
will release them from responsibility. In the opposite case, the
majority will have to take responsibility for multiple increase of
prices from 2009, which was kept in secret from citizens, for 31
protocols which were signed by the government and the Russian side
and registered the chronicle of price increases, non-payment of debts
and fees.
However, the parliamentary majority didn't present any serious
argument again. The head of RPA fraction, Galust Saakyan, stated:
"Many of speeches on the topic were acrimonious and slander." A member
of the Rule of Law Mger Shakhgeldyan said that for him Armenian-Russian
strategic relations are of high priority.
On February 5th the NA rejected the proposal of the opposition on
establishing the commission - 58 "cons", 44 "pros", 3 abstainers.
According to the opposition, the authorities didn't want to
establish the commission, as a shadow bargain is hidden behind
the gas agreements. "If the government has nothing to be afraid of
and it thinks that it was legal, why didn't the majority vote for
the commission? The Republicans should realize that boycott of our
proposal proves that they have something to hide," Naira Zograbyan,
Secretary of the fraction of Prosperous Armenia, is sure.
Representatives of the authorities didn't give a clear answer to
the question how the debt appeared at the session of the NA. The
situation is worsened by the fact that the government didn't inform
the World Bank and the IMF of the debt, i.e. broke direct terms of
agreements with them. According to Aram Manukyan, a MP from ANC,
on December 23rd, when the opposition refused from participation in
voting for ratification of gas agreements and left the NA building,
the majority quickly voted for execution of $300 million as a state
debt, and later the state debt was scrapped.
Rejection of the opposition proposal by the parliamentary majority
demonstrated "unity of will and spirit" in the matter of absolute
obedience to the leadership. However, the "firm will" can lead to
radicalization of the opposition and the society, especially when
people hate the Defined Contribution Pension System.
http://vestnikkavkaza.net/articles/politics/51151.html