The 74th session of the UN General Assembly was held on September 17-30 in New York. It is no secret that most countries use the UN GA tribune to present their main approaches to various foreign policy issues. The speeches from this tribune do not just contain texts that pursue exclusively situational goals; they go through a serious preparatory stage and are based on the strategic perception of particular issues by the respective countries. Studying the speeches of representatives of different countries, as well as other events within the framework of the UN General Assembly allow us to understand their key messages for Armenia and the region.

In the present analysis, given the data published by the Statistical Committee of the RA, we study the recent social-economic developments in the economy of the RA. In particular, we consider the cumulative indicator of economic activity of the given month, its sectoral distribution, as well as the dynamics of individual sectors of the economy. We also analyze economic developments in the foreign trade, labour market and fiscal system of the RA. In addition, some aspects of the financial system (inflation, deposits and loans), as well as the behaviour of the exchange rate, are touched upon. Full material is only available in Armenian.

The study of indicators and indices published by international organizations allows to address two important problems. First, to assess the performance of the RA in the given period with the help of comprehensive numerical measures, as well as to make intertemporal comparisons in order to understand whether the country moves in the desirable direction. Second, to compare the performance of the RA with other countries to ascertain Armenia’s relative position in the region and Eurasian Economic Union. These results are important, since they help to derive the comprehensive assessment of the economic situation, which is needed both for the public and the private sector. The present analysis is aimed at addressing the foregoing problems. Full material is only available in Armenian.

On October 10, 2019 the RA government approved the judicial and legal reforms strategy in the Republic of Armenia for 2019-2023 within the framework of which, in the first quarter of 2020, a Fact-finding commission is expected to be created. Such commissions are temporary, extrajudicial bodies that establish facts of mass and gross violations of human rights or humanitarian law in the past. Such commissions were basically created in societies exhausted by the civil war and dictatorship, such as Ecuador, Kenya, Mauritius, Solomon Islands and Togo. This analysis presents the circumstances that led to the creation of such commissions in international practice, the problems that arose during the creation of the commissions and, in the light of the latter, the model of the fact-finding commission proposed by the government of the RA. Full material is only available in Armenian.

The 9th legislature of the European Parliament officially started its work in July. It is the only supranational parliament in the world that is directly elected, is empowered to regulate the single market, and to distribute public funds to the EU's overall budget. Therefore, the European elections attract a lot of public attention. The results of this year's election sent a clear message that EU voters want change. In order to evaluate the results correctly, it is necessary to consider them from several dimensions. This analysis attempts to study the main trends of the elections and their further impact on EU activities. Full material is only available in Armenian.

On September 6, 2019, the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia published draft laws “On introducing amendments and supplements to the law “On Confiscation of Property of Illegal Origin” and related draft laws. In international experience, confiscation without conviction is an exceptional measure in the fight against particularly dangerous crimes. Despite the fact that from the state’s point of view the confiscation of property of illegal origin, by means of civil proceedings, is an effective and simple way to combat crime, this institute contains the risk of abuse and serious violations of fundamental human rights. This is due to the fact that in the international experience, as a rule, the confiscation is applied in the cases where criminal prosecution is impossible due to person’s death or circumstances caused by person’s guilt that justify such extremely serious interference with human rights and guarantees of criminal proceedings and make it proportional. This analysis presents the proposed regulations of the draft law, as well as provides a comparative analysis of the latter in the light of international experience. Full material is only available in Armenian.

The primary document that defines the medium-term (that is, for the upcoming three years) objectives of the government of the RA is the framework of public medium-term expenditures. This framework allows to manage financial resourses of the public sector in accordance with the medium-term fiscal objectives. It consists of two parts, the first one of which describes the fiscal policy of the government and the second one – the strategy of the spending policy. The framework of medium-term expenditures serves as a basis for developing the draft state budget. The present analysis is aimed at exploring the foregoing framework. Full material is only available in Armenian.

In March 2019 SIGMA released an analysis, entitled “Baseline Measurement Report: Principles of Public Administration", which analyzed the six key areas of public administration in Armenia with a specific methodology, provided estimates on these areas. The assessments reflected in the report are particularly important in the context of the recent discussions in Armenia, according to which the present authorities have inherited a "failed state system"․ Earlier, SIGMA also prepared reports with similar content on other EU Eastern Partnership countries, in particular on Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova. A comparative analysis of reports on Armenia and these countries suggests that in many areas Armenia is at the same level or has advantages over these countries.

The export of goods and services is of paramount importance for every economy. This is why the majority of countries adopt an export-oriented economic policy. In 2019 the RA has experienced a slowdown in the growth rates of the export. Indeed, over January-July of 2019 the exports have increased by 3.0 percent compared with the same period of the previous year, while in 2018 the same indicator amounted to 17.6 percent. To revive foreign trade of the RA, it is necessary to ensure diversification of the structure and directions of the export industry. Full material is only available in Armenian.

On August 9, 2019, the RA Ministry of Justice submitted for public discussion draft laws “On amendments and supplements to the constitutional law “Judicial Code of the Republic of Armenia”, “On amendments and supplements to the constitutional law of the Republic of Armenia “On Constitutional Court” and related draft laws. The draft laws significantly expand the grounds for holding judges of the constitutional court and ordinary court judges accountable for disciplinary violations and termination of their powers, thereby weakening the external independence of the latter. The ministry provides for the introduction of an “early retirement scheme” according to which a resigned judge of the Constitutional court, regardless of the age, can retain his salary at the time of resignation until the end of his term. The ministry justifies the necessity of introducing the institute by the criticized experience of Poland and Hungary, which is presented by the ministry as international experience. Also, the proposed procedure for the election of members of the Commission for the prevention of corruption is extremely worrying. In particular, it is problematic to assign to the Commission functions that involve broad discretion, as well as interference in personal and family life. This analysis concerns a detailed study of the draft laws in the light of the RA Constitution and international experience. Full material is only available in Armenian.