EU will not support Armenia financially, and without Russia it will be hard to stay afloat economically: Waldemar Gerdt

Waldemar Gerdt, former member of the Bundestag, commented to Alpha News on the statement by Nikol Pashinyan, Prime Minister of Armenia, on European integration, noting that the European Union’s limited assistance may have shown Yerevan the economic risks of moving closer to the EU without taking into account its existing ties with Russia.

“The meager assistance that Armenia has received from the European Union has made it clear that further ill-considered movement toward the EU could lead to dire economic consequences. The European Union will not carry Armenia financially, because it is barely coping with the financial problems within the bloc itself. Armenia, bound to Russia by long historical and economic ties, cannot simply drop them. One could say that a certain sobering up has come: without Russia it will be hard to stay afloat economically, and the EU will not become a full-fledged helper,” Gerdt said.

According to the former Bundestag member, Armenia will need political resolve to acknowledge the existing economic risks and ease the situation by mending relations with Russia, without abandoning European integration.

“Probably, one needs serious political daring to realize this, try to ease the situation, and thereby mend relations with the oldest, most ancient neighbor, friend and partner, without abandoning European integration. I very much hope that the European Union will modernize and someday become a single economic space from Lisbon to Vladivostok. And I think there will be a place in that space not only for Armenia,” Gerdt concluded.