By Victoria Panfilova, an observer of Nezavisimaya Gazeta, exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza
The Armenian authorities received new proof last week that the measures taken to improve the situation in the country were contradicting hopes of the society. At the same time, a tendency of consolidation of weak and self-discrediting opposition was outlined in the process.
Thousands of people gathered on Freedom Square in Yerevan to protest against the pension reform. On January 1, Armenia will adopt the law on accumulative pensions. According to the reform, workers born in 1974 and younger will contribute about 10% of their monthly salary to pensions funds, not to mention the 25% income tax, part of which is used to form the pension fund that upkeeps the pensioners.
The multi-thousand protest was organized by the ‘I am Against!’ public movement. This organization mobilized people for a demonstration against rising ticket prices for public transportation a couple of months ago. The demonstration was a success and the prices were left unchanged. Though the legislators bring the issue up once in a while, they still abstain from realizing it because the public outrage was very emotional and firm.
The same situation regards the pension law. People are actively protesting against the reform, a legislative idea to cut salaries for the benefit of the government with a foggy prospect of payback sometime in the future. Judging by speeches of the protests, the demonstration is not against the idea itself, it is against the government. People simply do not trust the government. According to one of the activists: “Why should I sacrifice 10% or more to the 25% of taxes if I have no clue what will happen tomorrow?! Those funds that will receive the allocations according to the new law may pop tomorrow, new authorities will come and, as usually, they will say that they have nothing to do with that and people should question the ones who developed and passed the law! We have already gone through this.”
Boris Navasardyan, Head of the Yerevan Press Club, clarified that the law was provoking most grievances among people with low income or people earning a living legally, in other words, those who follow the fiscal laws and pay taxes. “It is hard to tell the outcome of this protests, but the ‘I am Against!’ movement has shown itself as a very organized, consistent and rational force when it managed to keep the prices for public transport low,” Navasardyan told Vestnik Kavkaza. Appearance of the most well-known oppositionist parties of Armenia and their activeness demonstrated in harsh anti-governmental speeches, are an attempt to gain popularity and improve ratings, the analyst supposes. However, they may unite, as it was said in their declarations. In this case, Serzh Sargsyan’s second four-year term of presidency would be very complicated. His situation is already pretty challenging.
Some of the main problems of modern Armenia are the stagnation of the economy, unemployment, and the low level of social security that forces people to move abroad in search for a living. The scale of emigration looks horrifying. It cannot leave the authorities indifferent. In mid-2013, they had a series of consultations with Russian diplomats to restrict entrance Russia, the main destination of Armenians searching for work. Armenia plans to join the Customs Union. The integration structure will form a free labor market for its members, thus, the emigration problem will only get worse.
