On January 24, speaking at a plenary meeting of the winter session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan touched upon as the “both” policy, as well as the Armenia-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement.
According to the President, the guaranty of Armenia’s success in combining integration processes is sincerity with its partners: “One should be sincere with its partners and not to hide the negotiation process and commitments. If your obligations in an integration process do not conflict with the commitments undertaken by another document, why should not one cooperate?”, the President noted.
In his speech Serzh Sargsyan also thoroughly touched upon the negotiations with the European Union and the process of joining the EAEU, presenting even the approaches of those responsible for those structures and the changes within those. It should be noted that in light of various speculations, the clarification of this topic from the PACE tribune was quite important, if not necessary. In this regard, Serzh Sargsyan’s emphasis that despite the skepticism of many, even the European Union, “Armenia has proved to be able to combine its involvement in various integration structures and even become a model of cooperation”, was also remarkable.
And, indeed, the Armenian side has been guided by the policy of “both”, which does not consider Euro-integration and Eurasian-integration as directions opposing each other, on the contrary, it bases on the principle of their combination. Perhaps, due to the consistent work of the Armenian side and the developments in the Eastern Partnership territory, the rationality and objectivity of Armenia’s policy has gradually become monovalent for all parties. As a result, being a full member of the EAEU, Armenia was able to successfully negotiate and sign the Armenia-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement. In his speech the President expressed conviction that the agreement will give a completely new quality to bilateral relations, at the same time pointing out that it does not contradict Armenia’s commitments within the framework of the EAEU.
Touching upon the importance of the Armenia-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement to enter into force as quickly and fully as possible, the President noted, that it needs to be ratified by the parliaments of the 27 EU member states as well as the European Parliament. Such an emphasis from the PACE tribune was quite important. In practice, we cannot rule out that it was a special message addressed to EU member states, which can facilitate acceleration of the already launched process of ratification of the agreement by the EU members.
Summing up the topic, the President also stressed that the victory of the “both” policy creates wide opportunities not only for Armenia. It can play a big role and have a positive impact on the future cooperation between the European Union and the EAEU. In that sense, Armenia may have its own role in establishing a dialogue between the two unions.
Greta AVETISYAN
