We need the EAEU and the EU equally, until an alternative has formed: Pashinyan

We need the European Union and the EAEU equally, until we accomplish our task of creating alternatives and until the people make their choice in favor of one of them. This was stated by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan at a briefing.

He noted that a third option also exists: “We’re talking about two, but there could also be a third initiative: neither the EAEU nor the EU. Who says everyone necessarily has to join something? There could also be a third path.”

Pashinyan emphasized that the problem is not individual statements by politicians, but a deep-seated perception among a number of EAEU countries regarding Armenia, which he called “disrespectful.” According to him, it was based on the assumption that Armenia supposedly had no way out of its conflicts with Azerbaijan and Turkey, and therefore could be treated however others pleased.

“These conversations opened up precisely under conditions of peace. When I said that the Karabakh issue was a lever, a rope, or a trap, this is exactly what I meant,” the Prime Minister noted.

He added that the people of Armenia had long been denied a real right to choose, as they were constantly being led into traps.

“Now we want to create alternatives so that the people can make their own choice. If they choose the EAEU, we’ll be in the EAEU; if the EU, we’ll be in the EU. But this choice must be a mature one,” Pashinyan said, emphasizing that other options already exist today, and that Armenia has proven it is not a periphery, but a crossroads of the South Caucasus.