The CSO Anti-Corruption Coalition of Armenia (hereinafter “the Coalition”) welcomes and fully shares the evaluations of the Council of Europe’s Group of States Against Corruption (GRECO) adopted on December 6 and promulgated on December 12 in the Fourth Evaluation Report concerning the process of formation of the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption (the body forming a part of the anti-corruption institutional system).
The Report particularly states that the Parliament has adopted a new law on the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption that eliminates the competition council from the process of appointment of members of the Commission and introduces a system of direct nominations (1 candidate nominated by the government, 1 candidate by the majority of the National Assembly, 2 candidates from 2 opposition parties of the National Assembly and 1 candidate from the Supreme Judicial Council). The main concern about this model is the significant risk of politicization. It is also stated that civil society organizations are not represented for nomination or selection, meaning the government and the ruling parliamentary faction can oversee the majority of the Commission. GRECO calls on the Armenian authorities to ensure the Commission’s independence through a balanced and sustainable composition and transparent procedures. GRECO would like to emphasize that this recommendation primarily concerns the Commission’s functional independence.”
We deem it necessary to mention that prior to adoption of the Law, the Coalition has closely followed the developments unfolding in the period between the first and second readings and has made several statements reminding that the planning of such regulations and working style in the Law don’t arise from the internationally popular norms, principles and assumed commitments, don’t reflect the values of democracy and participatory governance adopted through the velvet revolution and don’t’ reflect the public stances of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia on the creation of an anti-corruption institutional system, and the Law is viewed as the most pro-government draft proposed by the authorities to date and a step back.
The Coalition has regularly informed international organizations about those developments, including the GRECO, which examined the concerns of the Coalition in detail and incorporated them in the Report.
We deem it necessary to mention once again that being sovereign and Armenian-centered is a priority for the Coalition and that the Coalition will continue to put in its efforts to help build a happy, harmonious and corruption-free society in Armenia.
