The agreement signed with European Union is a list of bilateral obligations, as every international agreement. If the document is verified, the parties should fulfill the obligations. Which are the more important of them, according to me.
Fight against corruption. I was watching the meeting of the president and Investigation Service of Armenia’s employees, and when they showed the hall, the faces who should fight against the corruption of the officials, they did not inspire me with confidence. Is it possible to imitate a fight as if you are struggling against corruption – so that Europeans do not understand that it is an imitatio?. I think – no, it is not possible. The case of Ukraine stands in front of us – the leadership of that country has not succeeded in lying to Europeans as if they struggle against corruption, the EU has cut off their financial supply to a certain extent. It is not that nothing is done in Armenia – I can judge pursuant to the complaints of the average bureaucracy: “we lived before as well, they allowed us to live.” But in reality few things have changed, and if practical steps are not implemented, no one can be tricked.
Fight against monopolies. We do not speak of sugar and banana, about which the journalists like to write. We would have been very happy if the monopolies existed only in retail trade. We speak of far more serious things – the productions having no authority sponsorship – starting from “fisheries”, ending with tricot, do not have any chance of producing, realizing products and, moreover, exporting, and in the conditions of the lack of competition it is impossible to produce competitive product in internal and external markets.
Independent courts. Let us keep a modest silence, inasmuch as there, in contrast to other fields, not a slight change is present – despite structural changes. Today’s courts are the same Soviet courts of 1970s.
Free elections. Again – all done is not sufficient: elections without beatings are not yet democratic elections. “Good guys” simply hinder the fair process of elections with their money bags. Only 4 years are left until the next elections…
It is clear, not the EU needs all that, but us, for our country to develop, they are issues of national security indeed. European Union can support us if we move forward, and will not support if everything remains as it is today.
ARAM ABRAHAMYAN
