The 250,000 Dram Project for MPs' Income Does Not Make a Significant Difference: Lusine Badalyan

Providing a doctor to the Prime Minister and the Speaker of the National Assembly is not something I consider an advantage; I believe there may be security concerns involved,

said Lusine Badalyan, a member of the 'Civil Contract' faction of the National Assembly, during a conversation with journalists regarding the project which proposes to assign a physician to the Prime Minister and the Speaker of the National Assembly.

When asked how she would react if she were an opposition MP and saw that previous administrations were increasing the expenses available to their MPs by allocating additional funds for medical insurance, Badalyan stated, "Aside from the 250,000 dram project, it also does not provide a significant difference in terms of MPs’ income. The seventh convocation of the National Assembly, when MPs refused the legally mandated 150,000 drams and 50,000 drams, which are stipulated by law and everyone receives, resulted in only a 50,000 dram difference."

Regarding the observation that pensions for retirees are not even increased by 5,000 drams, while a personal doctor is provided for the Speaker of the National Assembly, Badalyan replied that these are very different and unrelated phenomena. "We have already increased the pension once, and as our political team has promised, it should increase every year. Of course, we were slightly hindered by the coronavirus and the war, but that is our political line from which no one will deviate," said Lusine Badalyan.