ArmInfo. Armenia is forming a new agenda with the EU, which will become a serious burden for the
government, which will <take on> the implementation of this agenda. A similar point of view was expressed by Security expert, Chair of the Center for Women and Global Security Architecture Armine Margaryan
on July 3 at the forum <Armenia-Eastern Partnership-EU: Challenges and Opportunities for Partnership>.
According to her, since 2020 Armenia has been trying to free itself
from the shackles that have been imposed on it since the independence
of the Third Republic. "What is happening in the Armenia-EU
relations should be viewed as a process: we have a Comprehensive and
Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA), we are forming a new
partnership agenda with the EU, which will go much further than CEPA
in terms of political commitments and will place a very serious
burden on the shoulders of the government that will undertake the
obligation to implement this agenda," the expert noted.
According to her, it is in this vein that government officials
acknowledge that there is no simple scheme or some kind of "button"
that you can press to go through the entire process in an easier
mode.
Nevertheless, Margaryan is sure that the ball is in Armenia's court,
despite the fact that there is a risk of not withstanding the
pressure that a state that has decided to become closer to the EU
will face. Many countries have not withstood this pressure, for
example, neighboring Georgia, this can be facilitated not only by
insufficient "safety cushions" within the country, but also by
developments in the international arena, the expert noted. At the
same time, according to Margaryan, the <referendum> tool for
Armenia's membership in the European Union should be used. "This will
be necessary for the authorities, since then with this tool in hand
they will be able to form resistance to the threats emanating from
Russia. And these threats will certainly exist," the security expert
emphasized.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, on July 1 at the <Armenian Forum for
Democracy> in Yerevan, touching upon the advisability of holding a
referendum on joining the EU, said: <If we put this issue to a
referendum, we will have to conduct a campaign. When we conduct it,
people will ask questions - when, how, in what time frame, by what
steps? Does the European Union want this or not, is the European
Union ready? Can I answer these questions? - No," Pashinyan admitted.
