Armenia parliament refuses to consider opposition bill on support to large families

YEREVAN, January 17. /ARKA/. By a vote of 61 to 34 Armenia’s National Assembly refused today to consider an-opposition drafted bill that calls for increasing financial support to families with many children.

An MP from the opposition Hayastan (Armenia) alliance Tadevos Avetisyan, an author of the bill, argued that the bill must go through since there is no law in Armenia to support large families.

The bill had been earlier turned down by the parliamentary committee on social issues on the ground that a government-designed strategy to support such families would be submitted for parliament consideration later.

"In Armenia, there are fewer and fewer families with more than 4 children. Most of these families receive insecurity benefits. Each family member should be paid a benefit not less than the size of the consumer basket. They should also have other benefits, including medical insurance," Avetisyan said.

The chairman of the standing parliamentary committee on labor and social issues Heriknaz Tigranyan said the forms of support offered by the opposition-drafted bill contradict existing regulations such as the laws on state benefits, pensions, the tax code.

‘The author of the draft was asked to elaborate it and submit a package version based on the current regulations, but he refused to do so," Tigranyan said.-0-