STATE BUDGET TO BECOME A HOME POLITICAL EVENT

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Government Gets Strictures on Leaving Debates on the state budget continue in Stepanakert and promise to become a home political event. At least, the attitude of the members of parliament shows this.

Vahram Atanesyan, the leader of the Democratic faction, had criticized not only the draft budget but also the government’s economic and tax policies of the past 6 years in an interview with the KarabakhOpen.com before the parliamentary debates started.

The leader of the faction of the parliament majority over the past 6 years stated that there is no development in the country, Karabakh has taken the track for a country of consumers, which is not appropriate for a state which was proclaimed sovereign by its constitution. Despite the double-digit indexes, everyone can see that the economy is not developing, Vahram Atanesyan said. He noted that the tax policy conducted by the government from 2000 to 2005 was not effective. 70 percent of the budget is foreseen for entitlement programs, and only 800 million drams for the development of small and medium-sized business. It means that the economy is not developing, Vahram Atanesyan says.

Budget receipts total 33 billion drams. The government supplies 11 billion. Nagorno Karabakh will get an interstate loan of 19 billion drams from Armenia. “We heavily rely on the interstate loan. But who knows what will happen in Armenia after the parliamentary election, who knows what force will come to power?” Vahram Atanesyan said.

Nevertheless, the Democratic faction did not ask questions to the government during the debate on December 19. Instead, the members of the Hayrenik faction kept the minister of finance Spartak Tevosyan at the rostrum for an hour and a half, who was dissatisfied about this. Moreover, the questions were rather sharp. For instance, why has the government foreseen 400 million drams in 2007 for the construction of the new home of the National Assembly if building is over, and only the interior furnishing remains?

The three members of ARF Dashnaktsutyun-Movement 88 were quiet. They did not need to speak because the parliament majority assumed the role of the opposition and were criticizing the government. As if this majority had not approved the previous budgets of the government, adopted amendments to the tax legislation and heard the budget statements.

What has changed now? Why did the political parties start criticizing the government? We can only make suggestions. According to the NKR Constitution, soon the government must abdicate responsibility and a government with a new structure must be formed. In addition, the parliament will have more powers in forming a government (according to the Constitution, the head of state names prime minister with the approval of the parliament).

Perhaps the political parties have aspirations to the executive body although the government is not formed by the parliament majority. At the same time, they are also trying to solve the problem of propaganda. Hence, the uncertainty in Armenia apparently causes disturbance in Karabakh. And since nothing is clear, everyone will be thinking about their interests, and if necessity arises, they may sacrifice their teams for their interests.