YEREVAN—Four parties of the Armenian parliament – the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK), the Armenian National Congress (HAK), and the Heritage Party – have issued a joint statement concerning a controversial pension reform law that has faced intense opposition from the Armenian population. Below is the full statement.
“On January 24, 2014 Armenia’s Constitutional Court made a decision to suspend Article 76 and Article 86, part 3, of the Law on Accumulative Pensions pending a court decision.
The decision means that citizens born in and after 1974 did not break the law’s requirement by not having chosen a pension fund and a pension fund manager by January 1, 2014.
In addition, at least until March 28, 2014, employers will not bear responsibility for not calculating and transferring accumulative payments for such employees. Due to the essence of the abovementioned decision and the importance of a coordinated struggle against the introduction of a compulsory component in the pension system, we urge:
1. employers: not to calculate and transfer payments from employee salaries, out of concern that salaries will decline, while employees will have to make a choice between pension funds and managers under conditions of uncertainty. If the Constitutional Court recognizes the disputable provisions of the law as unconstitutional on March 28, 2014, then you and your employees will suffer irrecoverable financial losses.
2. all Armenian employees born in and after 1974 not to make a choice between accumulative funds and fund managers and prevent employers from transferring pension contributions from their salaries,
3. the unions of employers and the trade unions together with united society to defend their rights and not allow any body to commit illegal actions against members of their organization,
4. Armenian officials, the government, and the Central Bank of Armenia to stop spreading misinformation about the law under discussion – we consider such actions as open pressure on the Constitutional Court,
5. all Armenian citizens, organizations and struggling youth to unite further and continue actions aimed at recognizing this pension reform act as unconstitutional.
6. We hope that the Constitutional Court will deem the new pension reform law as unconstitutional and propose a constitutional solution that will take into account all the challenges facing the pension system. We are determined to pursue our struggle against the introduction of a compulsory component in the pension system.”
