Today, the regular Cabinet meeting took place, chaired by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan.

The Government adopted a decision to introduce a new system for assessing insecurity. Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Narek Mkrtchyan noted that the decision approved the procedure for assessing insecurity, with its formula, on a pilot basis. "We have already announced that we will implement the pilot in Syunik and Kotayk regions. Under the new system, instead of the existing family benefits, an insecurity benefit is being introduced, which will be granted to those families whose monthly income per eligible member is lower than the insecurity threshold, that is, the minimum expenditure basket," Narek Mkrtchyan noted. The new system makes mandatory the activation or employment of able-bodied persons. In other words, if a person who is able-bodied but not working applies for benefits, the application is simultaneously considered as an application for job search and the ministry tries to help him find a job. The new insecurity assessment system will be launched on March 17, 2025.

Commenting on the decision, Nikol Pashinyan noted that poverty is overcome through work, if a citizen is able to work, he must overcome poverty through his work. The Prime Minister considered it unacceptable that the income for not working could be higher than the income for working. "With such programs, we reduce respect for work, we reduce the value of a person who earns. Poverty is overcome only through work, whoever does not want to work, poverty is his choice," the Prime Minister summed up.

The Government presented recommendations and a positive position to the bill of the Republic of Armenia “On the launch of the process of accession of the Republic of Armenia to the European Union”. As noted by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Ararat Mirzoyan, the bill was submitted for discussion in the National Assembly by way of a civil initiative. “Now the Government must express a position in accordance with the established procedure. We propose to express a positive position based on a number of circumstances. First, in recent years, the Republic of Armenia and the EU have had quite intensive and dynamic relations, these relations have had a very rich content and have also covered various spheres. The EU has expressed strong political support for Armenia’s democracy on various occasions. The EU has expressed its willingness and, in fact, has been involved in ensuring the security environment around Armenia, I mean the deployment of the civilian observation mission. The EU has also expressed its willingness to support the strengthening of Armenia’s economic resilience. We know that the EU and its member states obviously have very rich democratic traditions, strong democratic institutions, a free competitive environment, a modern economy, advanced, developed science. You, Mr. Prime Minister, also stated in your speech in the European Parliament that Armenia is ready to be as close to the EU as the EU deems it possible. We have also seen signs of deeming this possible, I mean both the start of visa liberalization talks and a number of other tools that have already been applied or are being discussed between us and the EU. For example, the new partnership agenda, etc. And here, based on these circumstances, we propose to express a positive position,” the minister said.

Responding, Nikol Pashinyan noted: “In the fall of 2023, I delivered a speech in the European Parliament, the main message of which was that the Republic of Armenia is ready to be as close to the European Union as the European Union deems it possible,” the Prime Minister said and emphasized that the reaction to that speech in the Republic of Armenia was unprecedented. After that speech, an Armenia-United States-European Union trilateral meeting was held on April 5, 2024, at the initiative of the EU. According to the Prime Minister, it was a meeting held in an unprecedented format, and against the backdrop of these responses, a civil initiative was formed and, in accordance with the procedure established by the Constitution of Armenia, a legislative initiative was submitted by collecting 50,000 signatures.

Nikol Pashinyan added that this is the first legislative initiative that has such a history of origin and emphasized that the de jure position of the Government sounds as follows: the Government does not object to the adoption of this law. “What does this mean? This does not mean Armenia’s membership in the European Union in the literal sense of the word, because to reach that point or to make a decision on that point cannot be at the level of a law or even a Government decision. Making a decision on that point can only be done through a referendum. There is no other option,” the Prime Minister said. According to Nikol Pashinyan, considering our current position in this context, in the event of the adoption of this law, it is necessary to have a certain idea of actions up to the point of holding or not holding a potential referendum. “What is that idea? The idea is that after the adoption of this law, we should discuss with the European Union the roadmap that they imagine and that we imagine, and develop a roadmap together.”

Summing up, Nikol Pashinyan noted: “With this, we emphasize the availability of the Republic of Armenia’s sovereign rights to the tools for exercising its rights and the fact that we pursue an independent foreign policy based on our state interests, the state interests of the Republic of Armenia. And this approach is in the context of balancing and a balanced foreign policy, at least until the moment when there is a need to make a decision by referendum. And in that context, we will already have a completely different situation, and our understanding of foreign and domestic policies must be somewhat aligned with the understandings of that moment.”

The government adopted a decision to clarify the process of providing refunds to pensioners from non-cash payments and to extend the implementation deadlines. Accordingly, the refund system will operate until December 3, 2025.