“Chorrord Ishkhanutyun” says that Prosecutor-General Gevorg Kostanian did not show much respect for Armenian parliament deputies on Monday as it continued to discuss his annual report on the work of his law-enforcement agency. “He knows well what is written in the constitution,” writes the paper. “For all those formalities, he is accountable only to Serzh Sarkisian. After all, it is Serzh Sarkisian who decides whether the parliamentary majority will vote for or against his candidate [for the post of prosecutor-general.]”
“168 Zham” says both pro-government and opposition deputies were very emotional in their speeches on Kostanian’s report. The prosecutor faced harsh criticism from the parliament’s opposition minority. “But nothing will change in Armenia as a result of that,” comments the paper. “The atmosphere of impunity and lawlessness will continue. The authorities will continue to sponsor their loyalists.”
Manvel Badeyan, a deputy from the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), tells “Zhoghovurd” that the justifications for a higher electricity price sought by the Electricity Networks of Armenia (ENA) company are by and large “unfounded.” Badeyan says the ENA’s chief executive, Yevgeny Bibin, gave few convincing and clear answers when he met him and several other HHK lawmakers last week. “I think that Bibin must be punished for presenting clearly unfounded [ENA] expenditures alone,” he says, adding that Armenian law-enforcement authorities must deal with that.
“Aravot” agrees that the ENA is not presenting convincing arguments in favor of an increase in the electricity price. But the paper also does not see alternative solutions to the ENA’s financial troubles suggested by opponents of the price hike. It calls on them to come up with “precise calculations, rather than emotional outbursts.”
“Zhamanak” welcomes the sale of Armenia’s Vorotan hydroelectric complex to the U.S. energy company ContourGlobal, which was formalized on Monday. The paper says that the $250 million deal will certainly not solve the serious problems of the Armenian energy sector or radically reduce its heavy dependence on Russia. “But it should demonstrate that we can live without all that,” it says.
(Ruzanna Stepanian)