Gabrielian: Compulsory component to be discussed with ‘I am against’

During the ‘government hour’ in the Armenian parliament today, the deputy of Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) faction Tigran Urikhanian asked Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan if the compulsory component of the accumulative pension system will be reviewed and abolished.

Responding to the question, Minister- Chief of the Government Staff Vatche Gabrielian said the government is prepared to work with ‘I am against’ civil initiative and correct the mistakes in the law.

“But I don’t think that you should use a language of preconditions with us. In my opinion, these issues will be discussed at a working meeting with representatives of ‘I am against’ initiative and we will try to find some points of mutual understanding,” V. Gabrielian said, noting that the meeting will be held following the decision of Armenia’s Constitutional Court so that the further actions could be more definite.

Tigran Urikhanian, however, was not satisfied with Vatche Gabrielian’s answer. He said that he expected a concrete answer to his question.

“Will the compulsory component be reviewed or not? Will it be abolished or not,” he asked again.

“We are prepared to discuss it without preconditions at the meeting with ‘I am against’ initiative. That format as well as the principles will be discussed. We don’t set preconditions and we don’t want preconditions to be set before us,” Gabrielian said.