Marooyan Calls on Government to Radically Revise Policy in This Sector Before It's Too Late

Edmon Marooyan, the leader of the 'Enlightened Armenia' faction in the National Assembly, wrote on his Facebook page: “The draft state budget of the Republic of Armenia for 2020 lacks a coherent approach to balanced territorial development and continues the inertia of the previous years of governance. The issue of balanced territorial development, which we have repeatedly raised, remains unresolved in this budget, just as the government’s policy in this sector does not undergo fundamental transformation.

As a result, Armenia continues to exist as a capital-centered state or a 'spoon state', where its disproportionately large head is Yerevan, and the small part consists only of the provinces. These regions remain forgotten; everything is still concentrated in the capital, and thus, significant positive changes do not occur in the regional communities.

Consequently, residents migrate to Yerevan for work, quality education, healthcare, and other purposes, or they emigrate entirely. The severely inadequate funding of regional schools, polyclinics, and other institutions compared to the capital will only deepen this situation, and the longer we delay addressing it, the more complicated the solution will be. As long as the quality of life declines in the regions, the capital continues to be overburdened, and each of these circumstances brings with it corresponding negative consequences.

The horrifyingly unjust disproportionate distribution of subsidies presented in the attached document for the acceptance of 151 proposals by 'Enlightened Armenia' can be reformed. I call on the government to radically revise its policy in this sector before it is too late.”