My Step Alliance to Convene in Aghveran This Weekend, Prime Minister to Join

The members of the National Assembly 'My Step' faction will travel to Aghveran this coming weekend. This was reported by Armtimes.com, citing its sources. The lawmakers will discuss the establishment of a parliamentary ethics committee at the 'Best Resort Aghveran' hotel. The Prime Minister will also join the discussions on Sunday.

When asked by the website whether it was true that there are discussions about forming such a committee, faction member Maria Karapetyan responded, 'Yes, there is a draft in circulation.' When asked if this would be discussed in Aghveran, Karapetyan replied, 'I cannot comment on such a question.'

The draft constitutional law on amending the 'Regulations of the National Assembly' states that if adopted, an Ethics Committee will be formed at the first regular session of each upcoming sitting. In the 7th convocation of the National Assembly, an ethics committee has yet to be established, despite periodic apparent violations of parliamentary ethics rules.

The reason given for not initiating such a proposal is the legislative regulations according to which an ethics committee can be formed if any faction proposes to create an ethics committee in relation to a specific case. 'The actual absence of practices for forming an Ethics Committee is due to the restrictive and hyper-politicized nature of the regulations for initiating an ethics committee. Moreover, there are no necessary detailed regulations on the criteria and procedures for starting, proceeding with, and concluding the discussion,' reads the justification section of the draft authored by My Step faction members.

The Speaker of the National Assembly will apply proposed disciplinary measures based on the Ethics Committee's conclusions. Such measures include public reprimands, deprivation of the right to speak during one session, and deprivation of the right to be present in the chamber on session days for up to seven days. The conclusions of the Ethics Committee will be published in the National Assembly session.

As a result of these changes, the ruling and opposition factions will have equal members in the Ethics Committee. The committee will be headed in turn by presidents proposed by the ruling and opposition factions. Anyone will be able to appeal to the committee. The draft indicates that the ruling faction intends to make the Ethics Committee permanent. The current Constitution prohibits this. Therefore, the faction has already sent a proposal to review the constitutional limitations on having a permanent ethics committee in the National Assembly to the Professional Committee on Constitutional Reforms.