On December 7-10, the RA NA Delegation led by Gayane Abrahamyan took part in the works of the Plenary Session of the Eastern Partnership Euronest Parliamentary Assembly held in Tbilisi.
The NA Vice President Vahe Enfiajyan, the Deputy Chair of the Health Care and Social Affairs Heriknaz Tigranyan, the NA deputies Sargis Khandanyan, Koryun Mkrtchyan, Narek Mkrtchyan, Mikayel Zolyan, Taron Simonyan were in the delegation.
On December 8, the Meetings of the Euronest PA four Committees on Political Affairs, Human Rights and Democracy, on Energy Security, on Social Affairs, Employment, Education, Culture and Civil Society.
The Armenian Delegation succeeded to fail the next anti-Armenian initiative in the Committee on Energy Security – the demand of shutting down Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant.
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In this respect immediately before the voting of the proposed amendments the Head of the Delegation Gayane Abrahamyan delivered a speech. She does not only present the biased approaches of Azerbaijan in the abovementioned issue, but also distinctively document the strategic significance of the energy independence and the MAGATE experts’ professional opinions on the fact that considerable progress was recorded in the rise of the nuclear plant security. Gayane Abrahamyan also underlined the availability and importance of the predetermined provisions in the framework of the RA-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement.
An important success was also registered at the Committee on Political Affairs, Human Rights and Democracy. All eight recommendations were accepted presented by the Armenian delegation for the report under debate.
“It is remarkable that during the discussion of the abovementioned Committee the main theme of the reports on political, human rights and economic situation in the Eastern Partnership countries presented by several international and regional experts was Armenia and the unprecedented procedure of our reforms. As the Annual Report of the IDEA International Organization The Global State of Democracy 2019 stresses that Armenia is the country that ensured the greatest progress in the democratization process in Europe,” the Head of the delegation Gayane Abrahamyan noted.
All the recommendations of the NA Delegation on the report under debate were also passed in the Committee on Economic Integration, Legal Approximation and Convergence with EU Policies as a topic of the report for 2020 was chosen the proposal by the deputy of Bright Armenia Party Taron Simonyan of the Armenian delegation.
In the Committee on Social Affairs, Employment, Education, Culture and Civil Society a very important recommendation for Armenia was also passed. The recommendation of the RA NA Delegation has been on the problem of the xenophobia dissemination in the educational system which is greatly connected with anti-Armenian policy being pursued at state level by Azerbaijan.
One of the important achievements of the Euronest PA Plenary Session is also the adoption of three amendments proposed by the Armenian delegation in the Resolution brought forth by an urgent procedure, which affirm the procedure of the ongoing democratic reforms in Armenia after the revolution and propose an inclusion of Armenia in the EU Trio (Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova) strategic project the Trio formulation and by modifying Trio +1 formulation.
On December 9, in her opening remarks at the opening ceremony of the Euronest PA Plenary Session the Head of the Delegation Gayane Abrahamyan presented Armenia-EU relations and expectations, the reforms and commitments, the items of the right self-determination of Artsakh people and their security. Taking the advantage that December 9 is the International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime, the Head of the Delegation spoke about the importance prevention, condemnation of the Armenian Genocide and genocides and called on the delegates of the Euronest PA to honour the memory genocide victims. Everybody except one member of the Azerbaijani Delegation paid their tribute standing to the memory of the victims of the Armenian Genocide and all genocides of the world.
On December 10, the item of the ten-year activity of the Eastern Partnership and the upcoming strategy, during which the Head of the Delegation Gayane Abrahamyan, touching upon the perspectives of development of Armenia-EU relations and the Eastern Partnership format, reaffirming the commitment of Armenia in strengthening the relations with Europe, stressed that one of the main priorities should be the protection of democratic values and fundamental rights as a guarantee of the country’s progress. In this context she referred to the mass violations of human rights in Azerbaijan, the Armenophobia at state level, the deconstructive policy as a state contradicting the democratic and law-based system of values of the European family and having no place in that family.
The member of the Delegation Taron Simonyan, responding to the claim of Azerbaijan’s representative that the Artsakh side does not release Azerbaijan’s arrested citizens, has underlined that the convicted persons are not war prisoners, but terrorist murderers, who have kidnapped and killed the under-age Smbat Tsakanyan, have kidnapped one civilian and injured one young woman. “The murderers were arrested and sent to prison. Their guilt was proved as a result of due trial according to law – open, transparent trial with the participation of the Defenders of Human Rights and mass media representatives,” the representative of the NA Delegation added.
At the Assembly the Member of the RA NA Delegation Sargis Khandanyan also delivered a speech. He related to the future of the Eastern Partnership, the role of the European Union in the region and the preservation of inclusiveness in the framework of the Eastern Partnership, as well as the importance of the launch of the dialogue on visa liberalisation.
The Member of the RA NA Delegation Miakyel Zolyan presented the procedure of Armenia’s reforms and the recorded indices as a history of success of the Eastern Partnership and an exceptional example.
At the Session the decision of holding the Meetings of the Euronest PA Committee in Armenia next year in Spring was made.
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