Recently one more question is added to those that were so far raised by people acting against the initiation of the EU Association Agreement in Armenia, which is, why the text of the Association Agreement is not publish? People raising this question are concerned that with the Association Agreement Armenia’s further integration opportunities with other countries may be limited. It can be assumed that people concerned with this problem mean the restrictions in relationship of Armenia with the Customs Union and later with the Eurasian Union. First, it should be stated that, in the political arena of Armenia, a logical explanation has not been raised as to why Armenia should reject the EU Association Agreement. If only crushing “justification” is that if Armenia initiates the EU’s Association Agreement, Russia will get offended, and if Russia gets offended, Armenia will vanish from the earth, then in this case we do not have to deal with counter-arguments.
These “justifications” are a solid conviction in the brains of some Armenian michayel-leonteveans, the fight against which is not only useless, but also senseless. They are able to repeat endlessly it in any cases, regardless the fact whether or not Armenia will take a step towards the European integration. As for the text of the agreement of being secret, first, the claim is strange as to why its content is still unknown because the same politicians and experts has not made such demand for other agreements (For example, documents signed by RF) before adopting or signing them. Many European countries have accepted the EU Association Agreement philosophy, and societies in many countries were not affected by the application of the European legislation, on the contrary, they have benefited. In other words, the matter is about making a step on the way to universal values, and not taking Armenia to the risk of unpredictability and obscurity.
The Association Agreement is strategic in the sense that the Eastern Partnership countries will receive the same status, which has now and for many years Norway, which is not a member of the EU, but constitutes a part of the EU single market. Armenia will also constitute a part of the EU single market, which means that in the coming years, after the transitional phase, Armenia will constitute a part of the EU single market, a market, which, despite the EU’s current problems associated with the crisis, is the world’s richest market, and being a part of this market is an achievement and a great opportunity for the economy of Armenia. It is known that the former socialist countries, becoming a member of the EU single market, in a couple of years, doubled, tripled the volume of the national product. And this is not just the opportunity to be a part of the single market, but also assumes modernization of the economy. In other words, Armenia, Georgia and Moldova will need to upgrade, liberalize their economies, bringing to EU standards and EU legislation.
In fact, we have another problem. Our society certainly will be ready to implement the provisions of the proposed agreement, but whether the acting government will be that much willing, who must assume the responsibilities to upgrade all sectors and undertake specific steps … This is the most important issue that still remains unanswered. If the concern of people complaining about publicizing the text of the EU Association Agreement is that Armenia upon accepting it will appear in another security system, then it should be noted that Armenia is the CSTO and the CIS member, and the Armenian authorities could hardly go for a turnover changes in the near future regarding this issue. In addition, signing the EU association agreement, does not certainly assume obligations equivalent to political-military alliance. Today, we have other problem, and the problem is more than obvious for both the defenders and criticizers of the EU Association Agreement. It is the stance of Russian authorities, rather harsh reaction to Armenia’s independence practices on the way to integration with the EU, in various issues, on different occasions, which must be withstood without escalating the anti-Russian moods.
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Emma GABRIELYAN
