There are two extreme and equally wrong views on integration with the EU. 1. Are they waiting for us there? 2. Pashinyan just needs to sign some paper, and the EU membership issue will be solved in an instant. It seems to me that membership should be considered a prospect, but today many practical steps are needed to strengthen relations, which are not being taken.
On November 24, 2017, Armenia and the European Union signed the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA). That document implies many steps, including, as it is customary to say, “homework” for Armenia. In my opinion, neither the previous nor the current governments have done this work sufficiently.
What are the possible next steps? Visa liberalization, no matter how important it is from the perspective of the convenience of movement for our citizens, does not solve strategic issues. Our main strategic issue is security. Here, in my opinion, the time has come for a decisive choice.
Pashinyan’s “pro-Western” supporters should demand a direct answer from their “boss”: “Are you ready to leave the EAEU and apply to become an associate member of the EU?” In other words, has the decision to “roll back” the process that started on September 3, 2013, been made? And if it has, have the consequences of that decision been calculated?
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If the answer to that question is not given, the rest of the loud statements are meaningless propaganda, playing with people’s feelings. By leaving this issue hanging, I think Pashinyan is provoking the dissatisfaction of both sides, Russia and the EU.
Aram Abrahamyan
