Armenia’s Social Welfare Minister Mane Tandilyan (left) resigned Tuesday over the government decision to move forward with a controversial pension system
YEREVAN—Armenia’s Minister of Labor and Social Welfare Mane Tandilyan on Tuesday tendered her resignation in protest of a government decision to pursue a controversial pension system that met with street protests in 2014 when the previous regime introduced it.
Tandilyan, who was one of the leaders of the 2014 protests, had recommended postponing the implementation of the mandatory component of the pension reform, which requires those born after 1973 to invest five percent of their income in private pension fund that would manage the amounts until the person reached retirement age. This aspect would affect some 270,00 citizens, 200,000 of whom have already enrolled in the program.
Tandilyan, who is a member of the Bright Armenia party and part of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s Yelk Alliance, was recommending the one-year moratorium to find better solutions through public discussions.
In a Facebook Live session on Tuesday, Pashinyan said that the government had to act on the matter given the looming deadline, adding that it would be unfair to those already enrolled in the program if the government deferred enacting the reforms.
The government’s decision on Monday also led to verbal sparring between Pashinyan and Armenia’s Minister of Economic Development Arstvik Minasyn, a member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation.
“During yesterday’s [Monday’s] Cabinet meeting the issue of full implementation of the Mandatory Funded Pension System was discussed. You know my position that I expressed years ago on the ‘mandatory’ component of system,â€
