During a conversation with www.aravot.am, Inga Zarafyan, an environmentalist and the head of the Ecolur NGO, said that she had no particular expectations from the newly-elected parliament in terms of environmental issues and went into detail, “My expectations are from specific MPs who always raised environmental issues in the previous convocation of the parliament. Therefore, I pin hopes only on individuals.”
Talking specifically about the activities of the National Assembly commission that would deal with environmental issues, Ms. Zarafyan expressed skepticism,
“There are parties that do not care for environmental issues at all. For example, Samvel Balasanyan, a representative of the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP), heads the commission that should deal with environmental issues. Certainly, he gives priority to agriculture, but since environmental issues should also be discussed in that commission, the first thing I am interested in is whether Samvel Balasanyan has ever dealt with environmental issues in his professional life, how he voted. As far as I know, he didn’t focus on those issues. Therefore, we should make them deal with those issues, whether they like it or not. And it should be done under public pressure. I think that the MPs of this convocation of the National Assembly will not have a quiet life.”
Read also
In response to our observation whether public pressure could change much, taking into account what had happened to the Covered Marketplace, Ms. Zarafyan said, “In that case, there was not much public pressure. Public pressure is not the activities of a few activists, it is when they can gather different people around them, as it was with the issue of Trchkan etc.”
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
