The initiative on amendments was supported only by the ‘Heritage’ party.

The initiative on amendments to the Law on International Agreements proposed by the ARFD was supported only by the ‘Heritage’ party.

On April 6 the National Assembly of Armenia discussed in the first reading a bill package proposed by the ARFD party on amendments and additions to the Law on International Agreements and to the Regulations of the National Assembly. The Standing Committee did not give a positive appraisal of the draft bill for incorporating it into the agenda for hearing but since the opposition groups considered the draft as an extraordinary, the draft bill was discussed in accordance with the regulations of the Assembly.

Тhe ‘Dashnaktsutun’ party, in particular, proposed that the right of abstention should be given to the National Assembly too during the stage of the ratification of international treaties. According to the effective law, this right is given only to the President of the Republic. The justification for the amendment suggested that the change in law should be necessary in order to observe the principles of the balance and separation of powers in full.

The proposed legislative amendments provided grounds for utilizing the principles of abstention in cases of ratification and endorsement of the treaties. The proposed amendments also contained a clause suggesting that before the treaty comes into force the Republic may denounce it unilaterally.

The proposed draft bill will nonetheless be discussed during the session held on April 7 even though it is anticipated that the bill may likely to be rejected. It is currently supported by the ‘Heritage’ party only. The political coalition and the government are united in their negative opinion about the proposed bill.

As it was mentioned by the leader of the Republican fraction Galust Sahakyan, ‘such debates are much appreciated as the authorities remain vigilant’. It was also mentioned that the coalition discussed the initiative and came to a conclusion that the proposed amendments would violate the separation of powers between different branches as they are currently protected in the Constitution.

ՙ ‘it is clear from the start that the executive approached the issue with the mood of rejecting the proposals because the issues could easily be solved,’ said the main speaker and the representative of ARFD Armen Rustamyan. He suggested that the coalition should not interpret the constitutionalism of the proposed amendments and, instead, refer them to the Constitutional Court.

Gayane Melikyan