WHO CAN GUARANTEE NCTR INDEPENDENCE?

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“The society should have the possibility to regulate various spheres of life via independent commissions”, leader of the National Democratic Party Shavarsh Kocharyan considers. The draft constitutional amendments do not contain an item on independent bodies. It gives place to the NCTR only, which is to regulate the activities of private TV companies, the public radio and TV.

“There are countries having traditions of formation of independent commissions not fixed in the Constitution. We have two problems. First, the operating Constitution bans the parliament to participate in the formation of the independent bodies. Second, this obstacle has been preserved in the amendments”, Sh. Kocharyan noted.

The NDP leader reminded that in the memorandum adopted in Strasbourg the Venice Commission noted the importance of the participation of the parliament in the formation of the NCTR and the Council of the Public Radio and TV Company. “First the following principle was presented: the President nominates candidates for the NCTR and the National Assembly approves them. Then it has changed. The NCTR members had to be appointed half by the President and half by the NA. As result nothing new happened. The clause of independent committees should have been included in the constitution without naming them while the activities of the committees should be regulated by separate laws”, he said.

In his opinion 2/3 of the NCRT should be appointed by the NA and 1/3 by the President, while the commissions should account to the parliament.

“The issue was mentioned in the PACE resolutions, which said that the NCTR composition should be changed as soon as possible. However the present draft says that the NCTR members should occupy their posts until the expiration of their term. It means that some of them hope to hold the position till 2011”, Shavarsh Kocharyan resumed.

Victoria Abrahamyan