Aravot.am asked Nicholas Schmidt, OSCE/ODIHR Election Department Deputy Director, whether the decision to join the Customs Union would prevent Armenia to implement its commitments on conducting democratic values, free and fair elections. The OSCE representative refrained from making specific comments and conveyed the following, “This issue is not within the scope of my study. I am studying the organization and holding of the elections in accordance with democratic principles. We have also presented many recommendations to Armenia.” To our specifying question whether the Customs Union he does not see any contradiction between the Customs Union and the EU principle provisions, the OSCE representative gave an elusive response, “It is not within the scope of my study. I do not think it is the matter of my discussion. I am not a part of these processes, hence, I do not want to make any comments.”
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
