ArmInfo. The National Assembly of Armenia today in the first reading approved the bills submitted for discussion yesterday. Before the start of the next session, the parliamentarians observed a minute of silence in memory of the victims of the October 27 crime.
The parliament in the first reading approved the draft on amendments and additions to the law "On Citizenship of the Republic of Armenia" submitted by the government. As Deputy Chief of the RA Police Ara Fidanyan stated yesterday, the project was developed to solve practical problems arising during the implementation of the law, to properly ensure the obligations assumed by the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, as well as to simplify the administration in resolving issues of citizenship.
In particular, it is proposed to extend the legal deadline for applying for citizenship by Armenians permanently residing in the RA and citizens of other republics of the former USSR until December 31, 2023. In addition, adult children of Armenian citizens are given the right to obtain citizenship without permanent residence in the country for three years and corresponding knowledge of the Armenian language. For the first time, it is possible to obtain a passport of an RA citizen at the Armenian embassies and consulates operating in foreign countries. The relations related to the termination of the citizenship of children, the procedure for initiating proceedings on the termination of citizenship in the event of acquiring citizenship on the basis of forged documents or data, as well as the provision on the termination of citizenship have been clarified. The presidential decree on the termination of RA citizenship comes into force from the moment of submission of the corresponding document confirming the fact of acquisition of the citizenship of another state by the person to the Passport Service of the RA Police. The terms of consideration of applications for obtaining citizenship are also changing - instead of the current 6 months, by setting a period of 90 working days.
The parliamentarians also approved a draft amendment to the law "On Holidays and Memorable Days", which is proposed to reduce the number of non-working days established for the New Year and Christmas holidays. Accordingly, for the celebration of the New Year and Christmas holidays, it is proposed to establish non-working days from December 31 to January 1 inclusively and January 6. As the initiator of the bill, the Minister of Economy of Armenia Vahan Kerobyan said yesterday, during 6-7 non-working days on New Year's holidays, people are obsessed with gluttony. In addition, according to him, long holidays negatively affect the rate of economic growth of the country, and the extra four days of work will create an additional volume of goods and services.
According to the initiator of the amendments, "the number of paid days off for the citizens of Armenia exceeds the number of paid days off in many developed and especially developing countries", which negatively affects the economy of the republic. The economic authorities of the country calculated that an additional 5 working days will provide Armenia's GDP with an increase of 88.6 billion drams or 1.5% of GDP, the total gross output will increase by 123 billion drams, the gross output of trade by 47.5 billion drams, and industry by - 35.4 billion drams, services - by 33.9 billion drams, the output of the agricultural sector and construction - by 3.5 billion drams from 2.9 billion drams, respectively.
The idea was supported by the ruling Civil Contract faction, considering it an objective necessity, while the parliamentary opposition, on the contrary, opposed this legislative initiative. According to the opposition factions, the initiator could not justify the need to reduce non-working days during the New Year and Christmas celebrations. The MPs from the "Armenia" faction proposed to make September 2 and September 7 also non-working.
The National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia also approved the draft "On Ratification of the Agreement" On Ratification of the Agreement on Cooperation of the Member States of the Commonwealth of Independent States in Combating Crimes in the Field of Information Technology. "The agreement was signed on September 28, 2018 in Dushanbe. The document has already been ratified by Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The purpose of the agreement is to create a legal basis for cooperation of law enforcement agencies in the fight against crimes in the field of information technology.
To recall, 22 years ago - on October 27, 1999, a group of terrorists led by Nairi Hunanyan burst into the meeting room of the National Assembly and shot the leaders and members of parliament and the government of the republic who were there.