Accepting the Mother See's Proposal is Not Considered Appropriate: Kerobyan on Non-Working Days

The ruling political force has discussed the Mother See's letter regarding the designation of January 5 and 7 as non-working days and concluded that if they accommodate the Mother See's proposal, the reform will lose its purpose. This was stated by Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan during a briefing with journalists after a government meeting.

“From this perspective, we considered it inappropriate to accept the Mother See's proposal. Additionally, we have thoroughly justified how the structure of the economy will change in January, and that is the least we expect,” said the minister.

Journalists noted that the draft specified that January 2 should also be a working day, but in the end, that too was deemed a non-working day. Thus, what was the reason for not responding to the Mother See and considering January 5 a non-working day instead of January 2? Kerobyan mentioned that various proposals had been made during this time, but they chose this path.

When asked if it is possible for the president not to sign it and send it to the Constitutional Court, Kerobyan responded that he does not believe the draft contains unconstitutional elements. “Moreover, knowing the president and his attitude towards work, I have sufficient confidence that the president will sign the draft as soon as possible,” the minister stated.

It should be noted that under the already approved draft, working citizens in Armenia will have four holidays from December 31 to January 2 and January 6. Additionally, the Armenian Apostolic Church had suggested to the authors of the draft and the factions of the National Assembly to maintain non-working days for New Year's and Christmas festivities on January 5, as this is the holiday of the Feast of the Nativity, and January 7 as a day of remembrance for the dead. The government did not accept this proposal from the church.