Important message to EU countries on determination to sign agreement with Armenia
The signing of a Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement between Armenia and the EU is scheduled for in a month on November 24 at the EU Eastern Partnership Summit in Brussels. In an exclusive interview given to “Aravot” on the eve of his arrival in Yerevan in October, Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement of the European Commission Johannes Hahn noted: “I think it is still too early to say when it will be signed, we can only say that it will happen as soon as possible”.
Apparently, the parties really want to manage to sign the agreement in November. On October 13, the European Commission and Armenia published the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement initialed with Armenia, in mutual agreement, which was an unprecedented step, additional convincing evidence that the parties intend to sign the document within a short timeframe.
In recent weeks, information about the fact that some countries in the EU are creating “technical obstacles” in connection with the translation of the agreement was circulated, although everyone knows that political reasons are hidden under “technical obstacles”. However, last week information was received that the agreement was translated by the EU Commission into all languages of the European Union, except to Irish. Tert.am received some clarification on this from the European Commission’s press service, which noted that translations were made not by the countries, but by the European Commission: “As a result of the agreement with the Irish authorities, not all documents are currently translated into Irish”.
Are there EU member states that can hinder the signing of an agreement with Armenia for political reasons? Perhaps there are, but the fact of the publication of the initialed agreement by the European Commission is a solid evidence, that the structure sends a message to member states about readiness to sign an agreement with Armenia.
Poland has important role in strengthening Armenia-EU relations within Eastern Partnership framework
Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski visited the region last week. First, let’s talk about Waszczykowski’s visit to Baku. According to Azerbaijani news agencies, Polish Foreign Minister during his visit to Baku, has stated, that “Azerbaijan is an energy supplier for Eastern Europe”, that “Azerbaijan is an important country for Poland”. And though he spoke of “respect for the territorial integrity of states”, he stressed that there is no alternative to the peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict: “The Minsk Group is not yet perfect, but it is the only way to approach the solution”.
On October 20, Witold Waszczykowski was already in Yerevan. Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan stressed that Armenia attaches great importance to the deepening of relations with Poland both in bilateral format and in the framework of cooperation with the EU. “In addition to the Armenian-Polish bilateral relations, the interlocutors touched upon Armenia-EU cooperation, the upcoming Brussels summit and Armenia’s expectations from the summit. The President noted that Armenia attaches importance to deepening of the relations with the EU, highlighting that as a result of cooperation with the Union, quite a lot of reforms have been implemented in Armenia in recent years, and Armenia-EU relations have made considerable progress. Serzh Sargsyan attached importance to Poland’s role in the strengthening of Armenia-EU relations within the Eastern Partnership. The interlocutors also touched upon the negotiation process on the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict during the meeting”, was stated in the presidential press release.
While the Polish Foreign Minister was in Yerevan, the delegation led by National Assembly President Ara Babloyan was in Poland, where important, positive statements about the Armenian-Polish relations were stated as well. It should be noted that official Baku was carrying out intensive works with Poland as well as other EU member countries to include Azerbaijani beneficial positions in the Declaration to be adopted at the Brussels summit. Besides, the position of Poland was really crucial in signing the Armenia-EU agreement. The Armenian-Polish talks in Yerevan and the Armenian delegation’s visit to Poland last week hopefully will have a positive impact on the Polish position.
Emma GABRIELYAN
