YEREVAN (Noyan Tapan)–Neither the Republican Party of Armenia nor the People’s Party of Armenia ever announced the dissolution of the "Unity" bloc–which means the bloc is active–Prime Minister Andranik Markarian told reporters Wednesday. Markarian said negotiations between the two parties to maintain the status-quo are still continuing.
Markarian stressed the fact that unlike the RPA and the "Stability" parliamentary group–the PPA didn’t express its support for the Government when the latter submitted its program of action to the National Assembly in early June.
According to him–the Republican Party–having formed the Government–succeeded in cooperating with all the political forces and is still continuing cooperation. "I don’t know who put the 6+1 format into circulation and what its implication is–we are just on with a political process with all those political forces who are interested in finding a way out of this situation," he emphasized.
Asked if the Parliament wasn’t turning into an appendix to the executive power as all the consultations regarding the Parliamentary majority and changes of National Assembly leaders were held in his room–Markarian answered: "Those are negotiations at the Republican Party’s leader’s rather than at the Prime Minister’s."
Answering other questions–the Prime Minister said no changes are expected in the structure of Government yet. As to the possible State Budget sequestration–this according to Markarian–is now being discussed by the Government. The Prime Minister gave promised that next year’s draft budget will be submitted to Parliament by November 1–as stipulated by law.