Association Agreement is Still Actual for the EU and Armenia
Association Agreement must be widely used for building the Armenia-EU relations in the new political situation, said European Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn during the press conference on January 20 after 15th meeting of Cooperation Council between the European Union (EU) and the Republic of Armenia, reports RFE/RL.
Johannes Hahn said that the EU "should make best possible use of the already existing Association Agreement which we negotiated and safeguarded for future reference," and added that it needs "to be adjusted in order to reflect the new context but the substance of its political part I hope should be kept."
Recent political and social reforms in Armenia were reviewed during the Cooperation Council, good progress in many fields was enhanced and the EU representatives encouraged Armenia to move forward towards the reforms in specific areas. Especially, Armenia’s progress in implementing Mobility Partnership was underlined by the EU. The sides discussed the main areas of bilateral cooperation compatible with Armenia's participation in the Eurasian Economic Union. Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan reaffirmed Armenia’s commitment to deepen comprehensive cooperation with the European Union in different areas and directions, on the basis of the achievements reached over recent years, is said in the press release of MFA of RA.
After Armenia’s decision to join the EEU, Armenia and the EU restarted negotiations on reaching agreement about the legal basis of further bilateral relations and accelerating the reforms. At the same time, Armenia at the highest level affirmed its commitment to continue cooperation with the EU and enforcing the process of reforms. Association Agreement between the EU and Armenia was negotiated and was ready for signing already in July 2014, so now it can become a new legal basis for the bilateral cooperation with some review.