“Armenia, indeed, is not economically powerful country and, yet, the attitude of mind of the parties not cooperating but conflicting to each other are more clearly seen on this background. Europeans, who were very actively working with Armenia, even after RA President’s statement in Moscow on September 3 that Armenia desires to join the Customs Union, continue to be active. It is worthy to notice that the Europeans work with the youth. This proves to be purely political issue of whose influence will domain in this geographical area,” said the leader of Democratic Party of Armenia Aram Sargsyan in his speech during the round-table discussion on “Eurasian Union Prospects” on the last day of “Dialogue of Civilizations” forum held on the Greek island of Rhodes. To note that previous speakers, while speaking about the prospects of the Customs Union and the Eurasian Union, were presenting them mainly as economic unions. In the geopolitical coverage of the issue, Aram Sargsyan did not consider it coincidental that until now Europe is ready to spend huge amount of money for keeping Armenia in its sphere of influence. The fact that the President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan stated about Armenia’s joining the Customs Union, according to the speaker, should not create the impression that everything is fine, there are no problems.
“The West is still very active. There are no direct examples of what the country will gain or lose by entering into this or that union; accordingly it generates a wrong impression and skepticism.” Aram Sargsyan draws RF’s attention to the fact that the political elite of Armenia, the executive power, which keeps executing its obligations, was actively involved in the EU Association, Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area Agreement activities, and supports this direction. He noted that this class can not change its views at once and in 180 degrees, therefore, he opined that Armenian needs to go for a change in political elite. He noted that Europe has promised a huge amount of money to the RA government for adoption of some kind of laws, including the law on “Gender equality”. To the point, Armenia passed it under the name of the law on “Equal rights and equal opportunities of women and men”, against which, however, a heated battle has been going on for several months. Actually, Aram Sargsyan thinks that RF should be more active, particularly, leaving political issues aside, and moving economic issues to the first line, and should be able to present the advantages of the Customs Union to the Armenian community.
He also opined that it would be much better for the Customs Union to adopt the path of cooperating with other unions, but not competing. Later, during the conversation in the hallways, the participants responded positively to the proposal of cooperation by the representative of Armenia, noting that the RF President Vladimir Putin’s adopted tough policy, in this regard, is a way to nowhere. The tough policy towards Ukraine, led by RF recently, also became a cause of active discussions. Ukrainian delegates directed the criticism towards the RF. At the same time, there are opinions that Europe, most likely, will not be able to “digest Ukraine”, as the second phase of the financial-economic crisis is not so far. In order for Ukraine to come to European standards, millions of dollars would be required.
Nelly GRIGORYAN
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