At September 14 sitting the National Assembly continued to debate the two alternative drafts related to the amendments of the Rules of Procedure.

Before touching upon the drafts, Mr. Tigran Torosyan, the President of the National Assembly, in his extraordinary speech assured the MPs that there was not a trend of depriving the registered MPs of expressing their opinions by not prolonging the statements for 30 minutes on Tuesday, though it was the right of the President of the National Assembly by the Rules of Procedure, but it was conditioned only by the working motives.

Touching upon the two drafts being in debate, Mr. Torosyan stressed the importance of their purpose, giving priority to the amendments of the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly, conditioned by the constitutional amendments, at the same time accepting the trend of increasing the productivity of the activities of the National Assembly. Though there are proposals pursuing the goal of improving the activities, they do not point out a productive way for it. It especially refers to the proposal of all the drafts to be debated at the plenary sitting, which is not an accepted order in any Parliament. But no one denies that the opposition should have means for fulfilling its mission. For example, there are certain days for the debates of the drafts submitted by the opposition in the Lithuanian Parliament. As Mr. Torosyan assessed, this issue needs to be debated. As to the activities of the Parliament to be covered and broadcast by the TV, they should pursue one goal, i.e. to inform the citizens about the law-making activity of the Parliament. Therefore, any proposal of changing the working order is to be rejected until there is an alternative decision. The issue needs thorough discussion, and it is expedient to create a working group, which will elaborate mechanisms for the solution of the issue, assured Mr. Tigran Torosyan, the President of the National Assembly. As to Mr. Torosyan, it is possible to organize voting just after the debate of the draft but it is not the best way of bringing the MPs to the Parliament. The problem is more political. This approach will lead to the failure of the drafts, which cannot be the problem of the Parliament. Convening sittings every week is not the best way of improving the quality of the work, though he was for the order of convening sittings once per two weeks. Mr. Tigran Torosyan also considered inadmissible the punitive measure of forbidding the MPs to enter the territory of the National Assembly, found it expedient to let the future Parliament form the 12 standing committees of the National Assembly, stipulated by the Constitution, giving the opportunity of establishing more appropriate structures. Mr. Tigran Torosyan, the President of the National Assembly gave preference to the draft submitted by the majority, expressing conviction that the final goal is to have the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly being comprehensively elaborated, in compliance with the constitutional norms, regardless which draft passes through the first reading.

In his final speech, Mr. Grigor Ghonjeyan, co-author of the draft submitted by the ULP faction, insisted that their proposals are good and if their draft is passed in the first reading by joint efforts, they will find the best solutions till the second reading.

The MP Mr. Rafik Petrosyan, co-author of the draft submitted by the majority, expressed readiness to discuss the provisions on the frequency of convening plenary sessions, on the MP’s aide, on organizing parliamentary hearings, on applying punitive measures towards the MPs, and find productive solutions after passing the draft in the first reading till the second reading.

The MPs debated the draft submitted for the second reading on Making Addenda and Amendments to the RA Law on Local Self-Governance, where as Mr. Vache Terteryan, Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration informed, the proposal of Mr. Tigran Torosyan, the President of the National Assembly, on depriving the head of the community of his post only by the decision of the RA Constitutional Court, is included.

Mr. Terteryan also submitted the draft on Making Addenda and Amendments to the RA Law on Administrative Offences.

Accepting the problem and the necessity of regulating it, Mr. Tigran Torosyan, the President of the National Assembly noted, that he could not approve a draft, which was submitted without serious substantiations and not proposing solutions deriving from it.

Gagik Khachatryan, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Armenia, presented the draft on Food Safety and amendments to the other laws deriving from it.

The debate of the issue will be continued at the following sitting. The National Assembly ended the activity of the four-day sittings.