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On March 21, the RA NA With Honor Faction initiated parliamentary hearings related to the draft law on Making Addendum to the Constitutional Law the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly. The author is the Secretary of the opposition faction Hayk Mamijanyan.

Current and former deputies of the parliaments of Armenia and Artsakh, public-political figures, political scientists took part in the hearings.

Opening the hearings, the Head of With Honor Faction Artur Vanetsyan referred to the current situation in post-war Armenia and Artsakh, the foreign policy pursued by Armenia, regional challenges and security issues, the working style of the authorities.

The Head of the faction Artur Vanetsyan emphasized the importance of the initiative being discussed.

The draft law proposes that the RA Minister of Foreign Affairs four times a year and the Prime Minister twice a year should submit a report to the National Assembly on the ongoing processes in the issues of strategic importance for security, defense and foreign policy of the Republic of Armenia, the negotiations conducted within their framework and the fundamental provisions that are the core of the agreements reached or possible.

It is expected that the proposed amendments will give an opportunity to all parliamentary forces, including minority factions, to exercise their statutory authorities equally, in particular, to exercise the parliamentary control in larger scale through the work of the standing committees.

According to the substantiation, the proposed regulations will make it possible to organize a discussion on the report submitted at the request of at least a quarter of the deputies at the regular sitting of the National Assembly.

“This solution is available in different countries,” Hayk Mamijanyan clarified.

The participants of the hearings referred to the importance of the draft law, geopolitical situation and developments, regional challenges, the status of Artsakh and the security of the Artsakh Armenians, the captives, the foreign policy pursued by the authorities, the need for the power shift, inflation, the situation caused by the gas pipeline accident in Artsakh, the Armenian-Turkish negotiations, the program of the Government to open an era of peace, as well as the unacceptable rhetoric of Azerbaijan.

Some of them also presented proposals on the draft law. In particular, it was suggested that the RA Minister of Defense and the Director of the National Security System also submit reports to parliament four times a year. According to some speakers, the draft is important, because it can create a culture of transparency and accountability in the country, as well as increase the oversight function of the legislative body over the executive body.

In his concluding speech, the Head of the faction Artur Vanetsyan thanked for the interested discussion of the draft law, emphasizing once again the importance of the draft law under discussion and the necessity of its adoption. “No power will be able to reach an agreement on issues in the foreign policy behind the public. It is a very important tool which will allow us to use in the history in the future to understand who did what for his/her country and the state,” summing up the word, the Head of the faction said.