Refusal from new pension system in Armenia is fraught with higher taxes or increased retirement age, says RPA

The new accumulative pension system in Armenia has its flaws, but it is a must; otherwise the country will have to raise taxes or increase the retirement age, Akop Akopyan, an MP from the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), told the Constitutional Court, which considers the claim asking to treat the new pension system as unconstitutional.

On March 28, the Constitutional Court began consideration of the claim lodged by four opposition parliamentary faction: the ARF "Dashnaktsutyun", "Heritage", the ANC (Armenian National Congress) and "Prosperous Armenia". They demand to find the law on the mandatory accumulative pension system as unconstitutional.

The initiators of the new law are ready to amend it and correct its drawbacks, said Akop Akopyan, who acts at the Constitutional Court as a respondent.

The very adoption of the new pension law was associated by Akopyan with "the distrusted attitude to Armenia." According to his story, only a small part of the external debt of the country in 2013 was directed to the economic development.

The new pension system has been consistently opposed by the initiative group DEM.AM and members of the above four non-power factions. According to their viewpoint, "the mandatory component of the new pension system is contrary to the Constitution and human rights."

The claimants also argue that the pension reform "will not only fail, but will lead to increased levels of poverty and external debt of the country."