What defines the image of the Armenian authorities?

By Susanna Petrosyan, Yerevan. Exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza

Armenia was shocked by plans to abolish unemployment benefit on January 1, 2014. The government wants to replace the benefits with re-training as new specialists, as stated in the first reading of the employment law. According to Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, the system of unemployment benefits worth 18,000 drams is inefficient for a poor country, so funds of the budget of 2014 will instead be spent on the creation of new jobs.

“94% of funds granted by the system could not reach their addressees, i.e. the people in need of jobs,” said the prime minister. Then who stopped the authorities from making the money reach the addresses? It appears that the lion’s share of the funds was given to people tricking the government and gaining unemployment status via falsified documents and corruption schemes, in other words, committing crimes.

Experts say that the government deprives people of food, and plans to re-train them without caring to give a job. Artsvik Minasyan, a member of the Dashnaktsutyun Party, believes that it is a harsh and pointless initiative that undermines the ideology of a social state. “The Constitution of Armenia protects a citizen from the seven basic social risks: disability, unemployment, etc. The government is in fact blatantly violating the Constitution, by taking this step,” supposes the Dashnaktsutyun member.

It seemed that, judging by the government’s step, the country became poorer and had to abolish the unemployment benefit. But this appears to go off-key with the upcoming increase of salaries of high-ranking functionaries and MPs, as it can be seen in the bill on salaries of functionaries. The bill has also been recently passed in the first reading.

According to the budget, the basic salary cannot be 80% lower than the minimal wage of 120% higher. It totals 45,000 drams or about $110 at the moment. Salaries of functionaries will be determined by multiplying the basic wage by the quotient set for them. The highest quotient totals 20. The government plans to increase the salary of President Serzh Sargsyan from 436,000 drams to 1,322,000 drams, the salary of Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan and Speaker of Parliament Ovik Abramyan from 373,000 drams to 1,190,000 drams ($1 = 405 drams).

The poverty level in the country is excessive. The official data says that 19% of the unemployed belong to the category of the poor. Migration from Armenia continues. Over 35% of the economy is illegal. In this context, the motivation to give functionaries higher salaries seems very unconvincing. Explanations that higher wages would encourage reduction of corruption seem unjustified as well. It is clear that corruption control is a process organized systematically in various fields. Solely raising the salaries is not a solution to the problem. A few years ago, salaries of judges grew to $1,500-2,000, yet, the field remains one of the most corrupted ones in Armenia.

Galist Saakyan, Vice Chairman of the Republican Party and head of its fraction in Armenia, gave the most ‘reasonable’ explanation to why higher salaries of functionaries was a matter of dignity and image of the government. Maybe the philosophy of the ruling elite cannot digest the fact that the growing number of emigrants, the poor and dropping economic growth rate is what ruins the country’s image. Nonetheless, the rusing salaries of high-ranking functionaries and abolishment of unemployment benefits prove the philosophy which bases on the formula “I am the power! I do what I want.”