Citizens stage protest near government building against controversia

Citizens stage protest near government building against controversial
pension reform

Pensions | 21.11.13 | 15:07

Photolure

Scores of citizens gathered near the Armenian government building in
Yerevan today to demand that the provision under which all employees
shall transfer 5 to 10 percent of their salaries to an accumulation
pension fund beginning next year be scrapped.

Late last week the parliament majority thwarted a special session of
parliament called by the minority factions to discuss the matter,
after which a group of activists vowed to continue their street
protests against the enforcement of the law.

They submitted a letter stating their complaints to a government
administration official today. Talking to media, Alexander Ghazaryan,
who heads the government department dealing with citizens’ complaints,
described the demands made by the participants of the action as
absurd. He advised that people should read the law before staging
protests.

Armenian government officials believe that the reform stipulating that
all citizens aged below 40 make monthly allocations to pension funds
to avail themselves of the savings after they retire at the age of 63
is the way to finally ensure that senior citizens in Armenia enjoy
decent pensions after retirement. They indicate that the so-called
`generation solidarity’ social security system when senior citizens’
pensions are assigned from allocations made by currently employed
people is no longer appropriate in Armenia where there is an
increasingly higher number of retired people per each employee. At the
same time government representatives insist, invoking the experience
of recent years, that only a mandatory nature of the pension
accumulation provision can make the reform viable.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress