Parliamentarian: Public Fiercely Opposing Gas Deal With Russia

PARLIAMENTARIAN: PUBLIC FIERCELY OPPOSING GAS DEAL WITH RUSSIA

by Ashot Safaryan

Friday, February 7, 14:13

Public is fiercely opposing the gas deal with Russia, says Ruben
Hakobyan, an opposition MP, the head of Heritage Party Faction in
the Parliament.

He told reporters, Friday, that the problems the people are concerned
about still remain pending. “The authorities have not explained why
they have violated Article 77 of the Constitution of Armenia by making
an agreement in circumvention of the Parliament. It is an anti-state
agreement. The authorities violated also the Law on the State Debt.

This time, the authorities found no argument to justify their actions,”
he said.

Hakobyan said he is committed to the fight against the Government’s
action by combined efforts of the parliamentary and non-parliamentary
forces.

“We have always come out for the idea of a singe political agenda. The
entire political spectrum must properly assess the situation and find a
way out. Four parliamentary factions – ANC, Prosperous Armenia, ARFD,
and Heritage – have a common view of the current social and economic
situation in the country. If the authorities fail to realize in what
deplorable situation we have occurred in, these 4 factions together
with the public must unite and achieve a power change. I do not speak
on behalf of all the four parties, indeed, but I think, in the course
of discussions we will come to a common position,” Hakobyan said.

The National Assembly of Armenia has rejected the bill on establishment
of an ad hoc committee to study the state debt accumulated since 2011
in the gas supply field and the gas tariff with 44 votes ‘for’ and
58 votes ‘against’. The non-governmental factions in the parliament
supported the bill, while the political coalition of the Republican
Party and Orinats Yerkir Party has rejected it.

To recall, 4 parliamentary factions of Armenia: Armenian National
Congress, Prosperous Armenia Party, ARFD and Heritage have come
forward with an initiative to set up a parliamentary committee to
discuss gas deal with Russia.

Earlier, the head of the ARF Dashnaktiutyun parliamentary faction,
Armen Rustamyan, told reporters that the gas deal between Armenia and
Russia contradicts two points of Armenia’s Constitution. In particular,
he said, the clause 31.1 of the Armenian Constitution (“The state
protects interests of consumers and makes events within the frames
of the law”) as well as the clause 33 (“Limiting of competition
and possible types of monopoly may be fixed only by the law”). He
recalled that ARFD said about setting up of a temporary commission
on discussion of the gas issue in 2010, when Russia started making
contracts on gas price for the CIS countries taking into account the
European price making principles.

He pointed at the fact that Ukraine and Belarus use their transit
opportunities. As for Armenia, it cannot use its potential for the
Iranian gas transit, and the temporary commission must touch on this
problem as well.

As for the gas price, it also causes many questions. “It is no
secret, that Gasprom owns the controlling stake of the national gas
distributing companies only in Moldova and Armenia. As of 2010, in
Moldova gas price at the border was $233, and the consumer got it
for $288, that is to say, the margin amounted to $55. “In Armenia,
it was $189 at the border and $393 for the consumer. The commission
wants to study this issue too”, – he said.

To recall, in 23 December 2013 the Armenian parliament has ratified a
controversial natural-gas agreement with Moscow amid protests. The deal
gives the Russian energy giant Gazprom, which already owns 80 percent
of the ArmRosgazprom Armenian- Russian joint venture, the remaining 20
percent. Gazprom will also control all Armenian gas imports until 2043.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress