How long Armenia will wait to join the European Union is known only to God: Alexander Sayapin

Economist Alexander Sayapin shared his commentary with Alpha News on Armenia’s aspiration to leave the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and join the European Union.

“First of all, we will start selling oil and gas at market value, rather than at a discount as we do now. In addition, Russia will no longer be obliged to guard Armenia’s borders, and those resources will be freed up as well. Can Europe compensate for all of this? I think partially, yes, through some other mechanisms and benefits. I think that under the relevant agreements they will accept some portion of Armenian goods, that would not cause significant harm to the European economy, precisely in order to reorient Armenia toward Europe and away from Russia. At the same time, this will be a very bad signal for us, because many other countries will also be watching and assessing what kind of ‘perks’ Armenia is getting. So what you end up with is a mutually damaging arrangement for both Russia and Armenia,” Sayapin said.

In the expert’s view, Armenia will remain in a holding pattern on EU membership for an indefinitely long time.

“This is not a matter of Armenia actually joining the EU. It is a matter of pivoting toward the European economy and, so to speak, turning to face Europe. As for how long Armenia will remain in the status of a country awaiting EU membership, that is known only to God,” the Alpha News interviewee concluded.