The deputies are against the president’s isolation. The National Assembly discusses the issue of the Security Council

The National Assembly has started the discussion of the draft law “On the Formation and Activities of the Security Council”.

As VERELQ wrote earlier, the main change is that from now on the Security Council will be headed by the RA Prime Minister, while the current Security Council is an advisory body attached to the president. In the rationale of the project, it is stated that this is due to constitutional changes. Under the 2005 amended Constitution, the President establishes and chairs a National Security Council. And here, with the amendments of 2015, the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia established new legal regulations regarding the Government due to the transition to the parliamentary system of governance in the Republic of Armenia. Substantial changes were made also the institute of the president of the republic.

In his speech, Hrayr Tovmasyan, the chairman of the NA State Legal and Human Rights Protection Committee, mentioned that with the new regulations, although the name of the structure has remained the same, it is now a completely different body, a state administration body. And it is due to this, he explained, that today the members of the Security Council can be representatives of the non-executive power, as well as other persons who do not have a position.

According to Tovmasyan, the Security Council is a body of the executive power and the absence of the president is due to that circumstance.

“Decision of the main directions of the defense sector policy is entrusted to the executive power. This is what determines the composition established by the law,” he said. Let’s remind that from now on, the President of the Republic of Armenia and the Speaker of the National Assembly cannot be members of the Security Council. Instead, the first deputy prime minister, deputy prime ministers, the secretary of the Security Council, the minister of defense, the minister of foreign affairs, the director of the national security service, the chief of police, the chief of the general staff of the armed forces will be included. It has been established that the main authority of the Security Council is the main policy of the defense sector is to determine directions.

The fact that the head of the country will no longer be part of the Security Council worries the opposition. In his speech, deputy of “Yelk” faction, former Prime Minister of RA Aram Sargsyan urged us not to forget that we are a warring country, and if the prime minister is the commander-in-chief and it is possible that the prime minister will die on the battlefield, then who will bring these issues to be discussed?

“The first deputy prime minister you mentioned, who is perhaps an agricultural specialist? NA Speaker is a very important political position. If you want to know, the Speaker of the National Assembly is a more legitimate body than the Prime Minister, because he received the people’s vote, and then he voted for the Prime Minister from here,” Aram Zargsyan stated.

The opposition deputy considers it wrong to deprive the new president of the country from participating in the sessions of the Security Council, even if from now on the council is an executive body. “And why did we bring this person, we brought this person, so that if the work of the Prime Minister and the Speaker of the National Assembly is paralyzed, he will give his opinion. The parliament should be represented in the Security Council, the president should also be there, moreover, there should even be a representative from each faction in it,” he stressed.

A deputy from the “Yelk” faction also continued his colleague’s dissatisfaction Edmon Marukyan, who noted that the Constitution does not provide for the position of the first deputy prime minister, while this law defines such a position. Moreover, the First Deputy Prime Minister gets the opportunity to be part of the Security Council. According to Marutyan, this is unconstitutional. 

Deputy Minister of Justice Artur Hovhannisyan tried to explain that there is no violation of the Constitution, it’s just that the powers of the Deputy Prime Minister are separated in this way. In other words, according to the law, one of the deputy prime ministers is given the powers in the absence of the prime minister, but it is not said that the first deputy prime minister has a superior position over the other. Marukyan, however, was not satisfied with such an explanation, on the contrary, it gave a basis for conducting a comparison. “This is the same as if the law stipulates that the deputy receives citizens and writes laws in his absence,” said the deputy.

Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, member of the RPA Eduard Sharmazanov in his turn stated that the project is important and stems from the constitutional reforms, and what remains for the debate, then it is quite natural.

“Unlike legislative and executive bodies, the Security Council has a different function: it is only an advisory body. Armenia transitioned to a parliamentary system, where the separation of executive power becomes clear. the executive power has its function, the legislator has its function, and when they say: why are the Speaker of the National Assembly, the President of the Republic of Armenia not a member of the Security Council, I’m sorry, but this does not stand up to any criticism,” he said.

According to him, the basis of the foundations of democracy is the principle of separation of powers. Therefore, it is not the function of the legislature to enter into the sphere of direct action of the executive or judiciary.

To remind, according to the project, the Security Council defines the main directions of the policy of the defense sector, on the recommendation of the Prime Minister, it can discuss issues related to the security, territorial integrity and integrity of the borders. The powers of the Security Council are defined by this law and the Law of the Republic of Armenia “On Defense”. The Security Council adopts decisions on issues related to the main directions of defense policy, and on other issues within its jurisdiction, decisions of an advisory nature.