Armenia Should Be an Initiator in Its Relations with the EU

• 06.06.2015, 16:19
• Anna Karapetyan
•  Europe,  "Insight" Analytical Center ,  Armenia

There is a relative pause in the EU-Armenian relations until the final approval of the negotiating mandate by the European Commission. However, this very stage of our relationship is an important step in defining our expectations and our future plans.

The actual statements about the further cooperation and commitment of the same values ​​are not a sufficient basis for building a strong and deep relationship. At this stage, both the Armenian initiatives and the EU appropriate steps are equally important.

There is a number of issues that are currently unresolved and need some clear answers.

It was an important initiative by Armenia to form the EU Advisory Group. The group made long and effective consultations in order to increase the efficiency of reforms in different spheres. However, it does not work at the moment any longer. Armenia announced that it will continue to carry out reforms in all directions, so why not continue its activities in the Advisory Group. If there are any considerable reasons, then they should be made known to the public and should overcome.

Another important step that will show the continuity and efficiency of the reforms is the compliance of appropriate monitoring. Armenia should be consistent so that our reforms are implemented by the same methodology and depth as in the EaP countries that have already signed the Association Agreement. In this case, the record of high results will show that Armenia's reform process is ongoing and the speed and depth of the process does not yield,  sometimes is even higher than in Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova. In this way it will be possible to avoid the baseless assessments of EaP countries.

As for the EU, it should be consistent in its support to Armenia’s initiatives to advance the process, in case the necessary conditions are met.