EU responds positively to Armenia’s initiative on accession process but does not make any promises – Aram Kevorkian

On January 9, the Armenian government approved the bill initiating the process of accession to the European Union, presented by the Evraqve (EuroChoice) civil initiative. Alpha News talked about this with Aram Kevorkian, the EAFJD representative for press relations.

“It is important to understand that despite the government’s approval, this is just an initiative, and there is still a long way to go. They are right in this regard. This is a way to show the European Union that there is activity around this issue in Armenia and that the country wants to join the EU. But if the EU considers Armenia’s membership, it will need to make a number of changes. Internal changes must occur both in political and economic terms, as well as in Russian-Armenian relations. If we look at the examples of Georgia and Moldova, we will see that only Moldova received candidate status. Why? Because the relations between Georgia and Russia were much softer, unlike the relations with Moldova.

Let’s not forget that there is a Russian military base in Armenia, which is also a serious problem for the EU. And even though the EU responded positively to Armenia’s initiative, it did not make any promises,” Kevorkian said.

Speaking about the EU’s attitude towards the actions of the Armenian authorities in recent years, Kevorkian stressed that European media did not cover what was happening in Armenia.

“If we talk about the EU’s attitude towards the members of the ‘Sacred Movement’, I must note that the rallies did not have a negative impact on the relations between Armenia and the EU. And if we look at the reasons, it should be noted that the media in Europe did not pay due attention and did not cover what was happening,” Kevorkian said.

According to Kevorkian, the demonstrations in Tbilisi were sufficiently covered in Europe as Georgia was heading to the European Union.