The
PACE chairman Rene van der Linden had declared one -two months before that he
would visit Armenia and would be introduced to the Constitutional amendments and
to the spade-work for the referendum in November before holding the special session
on 29 of August.The PACE chairman round his visit beside the parliamentary
powers met also the leaders of NA oppositionist "National Unity" and
"Justice" groups.The leader of "National Unity" Artashes
Geghamian worried during the meeting that the people who didn’t trust in the authorities
wouldn’t also trust in the opposition in case of saying "yes" to the
Constitutional reforms and a political chaos would be formed. For preventing this
situation he has suggested to liquidate the Parliament and hold parliamentary,
then presidential special elections after putting the designed version of the
Constitution into referendum. Only in this case "National Unity" will
propagandize in favor of the new project of the Constitution. And the leader of
"Justice" group Stepan Demirchian demanded to punish those who rigged
the previous elections, to form the atmosphere of confidence in the country. Otherwise
there is no difference if the authorities infringe a good Constitution or a bad
one. As regards to the content of the reformed part of the Constitution then according
to S. Demirchian their approaches are scanty in the project. Yesterday later Rene
van der Linden and the RA NA chairman Arthur Baghdasarian gave a joint interview
from which we can come to a conclusion that the PACE chairman isn’t astonished
by the questions of the opposition. First he declared that the month November
would be a trial for Armenia in honoring commitments towards the CE. He also said
that the PACE had turned to the RA authorities to specify the voting lists and
"to provide for bringing criminal cases and investigating the former cases
of rigged elections" what the PACE did since 2003 but in vain. The PACE
chairman stressed for several times perhaps for the opposition yesterday "constitutional
reforms aren’t political discussions based on inner-party interests, but there
are important political problems coming from the interests of the whole country."He
thought that the content of the suggested version is much better than the previous
one and that "a lot of demands are taken into consideration there".
"Now it is very important for the political groups, fractions to work together
and make additional reforms in the text of amendments. It is very important for
all political powers to vote for and assist to the Constitutional amendments,
authority and oppositionist because all those powers are responsible towards the
RA and RA citizens. This is a trial which will show if Armenia will pass through
the way of becoming a modern democratic state or not,"-Rene van der Linden
said.The diplomat also reminded the undesirable consequences of failing the
constitutional reforms, which were more threatening than could be. For example
in case of not honoring the commitments in the PACE resolution attached in 2003-2004
to disclose and punish the authors of the rigged elections and those who violate
the human’s right and the right of moving freely.Nevertheless the PACE chairman
stressed: "The relations of Armenia and CE have their influence on the relations
of Armenia and EU. In case of becoming the CE member and honoring the CE commitments,
all honored commitments by the RA will be the ground of further discussions not
only in the PACE but also in the EU and its new institution "New neighborhood"
project. I call to all parties to be responsible for the Constitutional reforms
and don’t allow the party, political argumentations overpass the interests of
the country". Rene van der Linden perhaps didn’t know that the "Justice"
bloc had taken a decision the day before to say "no" to the Constitution
though it agreed to take part in the discussion of the project of the Constitutional
amendment in the NA special session. "If it is their final decision, I’m
sorry for it because no CE country has right to adopt positions basing on the
inner-Party interests. We must try to find mutual concessions till the end. If
they aren’t satisfied with the result and it is important why they aren’t satisfied
then the appraisals of the final result can have different opinions. But if anybody
has a stable position before finishing the process then that one deprive him of
the prospect of reflecting ideological approaches in the text. And constitutional
reforms aren’t only for the term of these authorities’ rule. It is also for the
coming authorities. Some oppositionist parties are ready to go to the constructive
dialogue and I hope that we’ll be able to base upon the positive approaches, positive
attitudes of those parties,"- Rene van der Linden finished.Naira
Mamikonian
