Armenia-EU agreement will be signed (or not signed) in Brussels in a month, on November 24. It may also be signed, for example, on November 25, 26 or by the end of this year. There are doubts about the deadlines, since the Eastern Partnership summit is not eventually dedicated to Armenia. The agreement, which is intended to be signed, is bilateral and is not directly involved in the summit agenda. There are no other political or even technical issues. None of the EU member states, at least in public, has opposed to that agreement. On the contrary, there are many positive messages. Azerbaijan and Turkey, fortunately, are not members of the EU. Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova, who have signed the Association Agreement, seems, were interested in only one point that concerns the territorial integrity of states, and that issue seems to have been settled, as they say, through a compromise.
Apparently, Russia does not like Armenia-EU agreement, and the proof is the active opposition of local representatives of the Russian propaganda, but again it should be assumed that at the level of the supreme leadership this issue is solved.
But putting it all aside for a while, let’s try to understand whether our society is interested in becoming closer with the EU. I have no definite answer to this question. With a pure sight estimation, I can say that it is absolutely not of great interest for the majority. Some part of the society is under the influence of the aforementioned Russian propaganda and sees some awful and fantastic things in every such step. Another part of the society understands that the agreement is important, but is not a panacea, and without the will of our citizens it will remain on the paper. The point is that the mechanisms of cooperation with Brussels are very unique: in this case, you will not only not be imposed to anything but also not offered anything. So even after signing the agreement, everything will depend on our initiative.
The attitude of the ruling party towards this process is puzzling. At a high level they seem to say that Europe is our civilizational choice. However, a number of prominent members and supporters of that party, as well as the media, do not seem to share that view. It perhaps should be considered as one of the peculiarities of Armenian democracy.
Aram ABRAHAMYAN
