Perhaps the most interesting incident of the National Assembly session this week was the large-scale attack by the “Tsarukyan” alliance on the Prime Minister, government and especially the State Revenue Committee chairman. The faction probably received instructions from the party leader, who is also a businessman and is unhappy with the fact that his business is being “oppressed”. I can’t tell whether they oppress fairly or unfairly though. It is clear that if the tax inspectorate sets a goal, it can find defects in many businesses. There are spheres that have reached modern, civilized standards of transparency (for example, IT), but these spheres are not in the interest of our oligarchy, as they prefer simpler, more tangible and “cash” income spheres, one of which is trade: supermarkets, malls, markets.
And so, the entire parliamentary faction has dedicated itself to the defence of their leader’s business. Some people find it negative, bizarre and strange. Others view it as a hidden fight of Serzh Sargsyan or part of Republicans against the Prime Minister. In fact, there is no such thing as the problem here is purely economic interests.
It’s natural since the driving force of politics is those interests, and this is the case all around the world. The US Congressmen are also busy lobbing this or that economic group, but in public speeches, naturally, they do not mention the reasons for their political behaviour, and as an incentive for their activities, they refer mainly to the interests of US citizens (in case of Armenia, “of this poor people”). Just in the US, economic groups that sponsor the Congressmen are companies possessing tens of billions of capitals. Our scale is more modest, our scale is “Arinj Mall”. So, I see a healthy element in this struggle, which is generally in line with the spirit of parliamentarism, when different parliamentary groups represent competing businesses. It would be strange and unnatural, otherwise, if all the deputies agreed on all matters. This would mean that there is no competition in our economy.
Aram ABRAHAMYAN
