Will People Have to Stand in Line Every Two Years? Armen Gevorgyan Raises Questions

Armen Gevorgyan, a member of the National Assembly from the "Armenia" faction and the chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Regional and Eurasian Integration, raised important questions in a Telegram post.

“Will such a decision, if adopted, limit citizens' right to free movement and thus contradict the relevant provisions of the Constitution? A draft decision by the Government has been published, which may restrict the validity of the passports of RA citizens to two years. Without going into details about the origins of this initiative, I would like to raise several questions that will require logical and substantiated answers:

1. Is this decision going to limit the right of citizens to free movement and thus not contradict the relevant norms of the Constitution?
2. To what extent will such an initiative contribute to the accurate and realistic composition of the electoral list and not hinder the exercise of the electoral rights of citizens of the Republic of Armenia?
3. What fiscal impact will this project have on the budget? Will the state charge for each new two-year period?
4. Have all organizational and technical aspects of such a decision been calculated? Does this mean that every two years a huge number of people will have to deal with the state, queue up, fill out documents? Will the processes be automated, electronic, or not?
5. How will this decision affect the quality and volume of the process of obtaining second citizenship of Armenia by our compatriots from other countries?
6. Will this decision contribute to effective dialogue between Armenia and the EU regarding the liberalization and simplification of the visa regime, and to what extent will the issuance of long-term (more than two years) visas by foreign states continue?
7. Will this solution create contradictions with current EAEU norms and logic regarding the free movement of labor?
8. And in general, what necessitates such an initiative?

In conclusion, I want to draw everyone's attention to the fact that the decision will affect 10 million Armenians around the world. Are there assessments of how much this proposal's logic will contribute to the unity of the Armenian people?”