Armenian opposition to challenge new pension scheme at highest court again

YEREVAN, September 9. / ARKA /. Armenian parliamentary minority is going to ask the country’s highest Constitutional Court again to recognize the controversial national retirement plan effected by the government as ‘unconstitutiona,l” Artsvik Minasyan from the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) said today. 

According to him, the move is being backed by the Prosperous Armenia Party, the Heritage and the Armenian National Congress (ANC). 

Under the new pension system that first took force on January 1, 2014 all Armenian citizens born after 1973 must pay social security taxes equivalent to 5 percent of their gross monthly wages, which will be matched and doubled by the government.  However, the reform triggered fierce resistance from many affected Armenians; most of them employed by private firms, and was effectively blocked by the Constitutional Court in April.

The government responded by making the pension reform mandatory only for public sector employees. The law will cover private entities only from July 2017.

Speaking to reporters, Artsvik Minasyan said  the opposition  will challenge the law on three points -  violation of the order of adoption of laws, the principle of priority of the right, which is enshrined by the Constitution and the implementation of social norms stipulated by the Constitution, including, selection of a pensions scheme  that runs counter to the constitutional norms. 

"I am confident that our citizens who do not take to streets to protest against the law will be glad to have their rights protected at the Constitutional Court,"  said Minasyan. -0-