The standing committee on European Integration of Armenia’s National Assembly on Friday voted to approve a resolution on Armenia’s membership to the European Union, making a vote by the entire parliament imminent.
The bill calls for the “start of a process of Armenia’s accession to the European Union,” and received the backing of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s government on January 9.
Upon said approval, which was also hailed by Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan, a senior Russian official quickly warned that Armenia will pay a huge economic price for its bid to join the EU by threatening Yerevan’s membership in the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Pashinyan indicated on Thursday that his government intends to push ahead with plans to seek membership in the EU.
“There is a very high probability that our parliament will adopt that law,” Pashinyan said in Davos Thursday. “It would mean legally that we start the process of getting more and more close to the European Union.”
The prime minister also said he wants Armenia to eventually join the EU because “we are a democracy.”
Yet on Friday, Armenia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Paruyr Hovhannisyan, who attended the spoke during a standing committee meeting, did not elaborate what the government will do, when and if the bill is approved by the entire parliament.
When the government endorsed the EU membership bill on January 9, Pashinyan said that referendum on EU membership should be held only after Yerevan and the EU work out a “roadmap” to Armenia’s membership in the bloc.
Reacting to the Armenian government support for EU membership, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Alexei Overchuk warned that Armenia risks losing its tariff-free access to Russia’s vast market and having to pay much more for Russian natural gas and and other goods.
Last week Pashinyan discussed the matter during a phone call with President Vladimir Putin of Russian, who, according to the Kremlin, made “corresponding comments,” in response to the Armenian leader’s explanations.
On Tuesday, Armenia’s EU aspirations also were on the agenda of talks in Moscow with the foreign ministers of the two countries, Sergey Lavrov and Ararat Mirzoyan. Lavrov refused to comment on the matter during a joint press conference on Tuesday. Instead he described his meeting with Mirzoyan as “frank” and “very useful.”
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