A senior opposition lawmaker strongly criticized a five-year policy program of the Armenian government on Thursday, saying that it is short on specifics and sets very few socioeconomic targets.
Gevorg Gorgisian of the Bright Armenia Party (LHK) insisted that the 70-page program does not substantiate Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s pledges to carry out an “economic revolution” in the country.
The document laying out the government’s priorities and policies was made public on Wednesday two months after Pashinian’s My Step alliance won snap parliamentary elections by a landslide. The government is expected formally adopt and send it to the parliament for approval on Friday.
The program says, among other things, that the Armenian economy will grow by at least 5 percent annually thanks to government efforts to improve the business environment, spur exports and attract more foreign investment. It promises “substantial” decreases in poverty and unemployment but sets no concrete targets.
Gorgisian dismissed the action plan as a collection of “nice wishes” not backed up by concrete figures and time frames for putting them into practice. “There is little substance there, and it is very dangerous that it lacks specific provisions on many strategic security spheres,” he told reporters.
“Everyone can propose toasts,” said Gorgisian. “If you go to any wedding or birthday party you will hear as many toasts.”
Finance Minister Atom Janjughazian disagreed with the criticism, saying that the quality of such programs does not depend on the abundance or lack of socioeconomic figures. Parliament deputies representing My Step also defended the program.
One of those lawmakers, Nikolay Baghdasarian, said that the program does not have to be very specific. It should first and foremost present the government’s strategy of coping with various challenges facing Armenia, he said.
Gorgisian said that his party has not yet decided whether to vote against the program when it is debated by the National Assembly later this month. “That can’t be ruled out,” he said. “How else can you call on the government to sober up?”
The LHK controls 18 seats in the 132-member parliament, compared with 88 seats held by My Step. The remaining 26 seats are controlled by Gagik Tsarukian’s Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK), which also claims to be in opposition to Pashinian’s government.
A senior BHK deputy, Naira Zohrabian said that the party’s parliamentary group has not yet discussed the government program and will therefore not comment on it for now.
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