Armenian government holds first session behind closed doors

12.04.2018 15:51

The Armenian government held today the first closed session over the last 10 years to discuss as many as 72 issues. br / br / br / br /

YEREVAN, April 12. /ARKA/. The Armenian government held today the first closed session over the last 10 years to discuss as many as 72 issues. Under a law passed by the parliament on March 7 the government sessions are to be held behind closed doors. Armenian journalists reporting on the government’s performance were able to watch weekly cabinet sessions through monitors placed in the press room in the government building.nbsp;br

From 1991 to 2008 government sessions were held in a closed format, but 10 years ago, when Tigran Sargsyan was appointed prime minister, it was decided to increase the transparency of the executive body's activities, and allow reporters to follow government sessions on-line in a specially equipped press center.br

From now on journalists will be able to enter the government building only upon a special invitation to a briefing after a Cabinet session. The right to select a cabinet member to speak to journalists nbsp;is vested in the prime minister.br

Speaking to journalists after the cabinet session today the acting justice minister David Harutyunyan said the session lasted an hour and a half, and fully met their expectations, as the discussions were detailed and thorough.nbsp;br

The decision that cabinet meetings must be held behind the closed doors was criticized by media community and experts. Shushan Doydoyan, the head of the Freedom of Information Center, said earlier it would destroy all the mechanisms that were being used to make the government accountable to the society.nbsp;br

Journalists are there just to daunt government members so that they make decisions stemming from the society’s interest, rather than from their personal ones, said Doydoyan. nbsp;br

According to Boris Navasardyan, the president of the Yerevan Press Club, in developed democracies where government meetings are held in closed format, there are other mechanisms of keeping the public at large informed. In his words, in Armenia, these mechanisms are not developed..br

According to the head of the Committee for the Protection of the Freedom of Speech Ashot Melikyan, the desire to hold cabinet meetings in closed format means that members of the government are not ready to be public figures. nbsp;-0-br