Waldemar Gerdt: statement on Armenia’s EU accession is more PR and playing to the public

Waldemar Gerdt, former Bundestag deputy, commented to Alpha News on the statement by Nikol Pashinyan, Prime Minister of Armenia, that Yerevan will soon begin the process of submitting an official application for EU membership.

According to the politician, the mere fact of submitting an application does not yet mean real progress toward EU membership and can be viewed more as a political and informational move.

“Turkey submitted its application, I believe, about 50 years ago to join the EU, and all this time it was given various conditions. It tried to fulfill them, and fulfilled some. But now Erdogan has essentially said: you know what, enough. So submitting an application means nothing at all, except PR and playing to the public, like, look, we’ve already submitted our application to the EU. But the conditions imposed on countries joining the European Union are very strict. Everything else could drag on for years and decades. By that time, the European Union itself may no longer exist in the format it exists in now. It’s living out its last years,” said Gerdt.

In the opinion of the former Bundestag deputy, the course toward rapprochement with the European Union could create risks for Armenia’s relations with Russia and negatively affect the Armenian economy.

“The agenda of Armenia moving toward the EU could result in it losing far more than it gains. Everyone has heard, seen, and knows that an attempt to get so close to the European Union that it becomes economically dangerous for Russia provokes a serious reaction from Moscow. Armenia understands this too. I cannot understand what the Armenian leadership is trying to achieve: falling out with Russia, which already looks unfavorably on these efforts, in the hope that the EU will give something in return. The funds that the EU allocates to Armenia for various reforms cannot compensate for the possible losses. Overall, all of this looks very much like purely populist rhetoric. And I think that such a policy could lead to serious economic problems in Armenia itself,” Gerdt concluded.