Armenian parliament passes ENA nationalization bill

The Armenian National Assembly adopted several legislative proposals at a session on Wednesday, including a bill to nationalize the Electric Networks of Armenia (ENA), passed in the first reading with the support of ruling Civil Contract party MPs and independent lawmakers.

Among the adopted bills were amendments to laws on public transport, local governance, public utilities regulation, energy, higher education, military service and the fight against money laundering and terrorism financing. Several tax-related changes and updates to the Criminal and Administrative Codes were also approved.

Speaker Alen Simonyan failed to announce that urgent government-backed bills would be up for a second reading vote three hours later, potentially excluding the opposition from the vote.