Brussels (The Brussels Morning Newspaper) – The European Union has praised Armenia’s advancement in implementing reforms in critical areas under its existing arrangement with the European Union.
How has Armenia progressed in implementing EU-backed reforms?
In an interview Peter Stano, lead spokesperson for the European Union’s Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, stated that the implementation of the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement finalised between Armenia and the EU in 2017 was significant not only in promoting democratic and political reforms, but also “reforms that bring more economic growth, better jobs, more investments, increasing of the living standards.”
What areas of reform has Armenia focused on under CEPA?
“I can state that what we are seeing is that Armenia made headway in implementing reforms in critical areas such as political reforms, in the judiciary, rule of law, in certain taking forward the very significant police reform. And we see that efforts are also being taken in other critical areas: fight against corruption, for instance, in the fields of education, health, migration, and civil protection. So this is very significant and we can only encourage all the appropriate stakeholders in Armenia to resume with a very, very good performance that is currently caught in the implementation of this agreement,” Stano said.
What is the significance of the new EU-Armenia Partnership Agenda?
The Brussels official stated that the new EU-Armenia Partnership Agenda that the 27-nation bloc is currently haggling with Armenia is an update of the CEPA rather than a degree towards potential EU accession. “This is exactly the promotion that would allow us more collaboration, that would extend the cooperation between the European Union and Armenia in all dimensions of mutual interest because one of the regulations of the European Union developing its relations with partners is to answer to the ambition of the partner. If we see, as we do in the case of Armenia, that there is a readiness to do more in more areas and more seriously and more intensively. And we react to it,” Stano said.
What factors will influence Armenia’s future relationship with the EU?
He stressed that the decision on Armenia’s forthcoming direction ultimately rests with the Armenian people. “Everything when it arrives to the future of a country is essentially in the hands of the people in that nation. If Armenia decides that it desires to go one way and this way should be closer to the European Union, then the country should step this way, of course, in the framework of the proper procedures. At this stage, I think it’s very premature to examine any possibility of growth because we don’t have an application. So to be able to discuss the European future of a country… we first need to notice that the process has been started. In this case, it has not been initiated formally. So we haven’t seen any applications. We are conscious of the discussions on whether Armenia should apply or not. But again, this is something to be decided completely by the Armenian people themselves,” Stano said.
