Member of the Republican Party Executive Body and former head of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Foreign Relations Armen Ashotyan considers Nikol Pashinyan’s visit to Brussels to have been a fiasco.
Armen Ashotyan commented on the Prime Minister’s visit to Brussels on March 4th from a content and format perspective. “This visit clarified something that the co-chairs of the Minsk Group later confirmed. It is that the European Union did not support Nikol Pashinyan’s initiative in connection with the Artsakh conflict resolution. He considered that to be a condition.”
Regarding the format of the Prime Minister’s visit to Brussels, Armen Ashotyan said that the head of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker left in the middle of Pashinyan’s press conference, and the President of the European Council Donald Tusk spoke about Macron’s projects, not about Armenian-EU relations. Also, no meeting took place with the head of the European Council. Aravot Daily reminded Ashotyan that the head of the EU delegation to Armenia Piotr Świtalski said that the CEPA is an impressive document, and by the end of March, we will have a roadmap of wider collaboration agreements. Ashotyan responded, “That document, which discussed plans of action, should have been accepted as a governmental decision in December of 2018.”
Regarding having a visa-free regime, Armen Ashotyan said that Jean-Claude Juncker has not said anything new.
At the end of the interview, Armen Ashotyan advised the new government to not come forward with declarations, and to instead reach a level of daily work activities.
Tatev Harutyunyan
