YEREVAN, APRIL 23, ARMENPRESS. The EU expects Armenia to tell them more precisely what are the limitations deriving from their Customs Union commitments. What is the future of the Armenian-EU relations? “Armenpress” News Agency introduces an exclusive interview with the Head of the EU Delegation to Armenia, Ambassador Traian Hristea.

- Dear Ambassador, what is the future EU-Armenia cooperation? In which concrete directions is the cooperation going to develop?

- Regarding bilateral relations, we have committed in Vilnius to further develop and strengthen comprehensive cooperation in all areas of mutual interest within the Eastern Partnership.

The EU is following closely developments related to Armenia's accession to the Customs Union, as well as the reflections on the establishment of the Eurasian Union. Both processes will naturally have to be taken into consideration when rethinking EU-Armenia relations. We expect Armenia to tell us more precisely what are their limitations deriving from their Customs Union commitments.

Despite not being able to pursue the Association Agreement including a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (AA/DCFTA), the EU is ready to take forward its relations with Armenia as agreed in Vilnius.  We can build on what we have achieved so far, while adjusting it to the opportunities and ambitions of our future cooperation and to Armenia's future commitments deriving from its Customs Union participation.

On the future legal basis, we have managed to safeguard the negotiated but not initialled draft bilateral agreement for possible reference and further use.

- In 2015 Riga will host EaP next summit. What are EU expectations from the summit?

- EU looks forward to the next Summit in Riga in the first half of 2015 where we intend to review the implementation of the Joint Declaration of Eastern Partnership Summit (held in Vilnius in 2013) and of Agreements concluded and chart the way ahead in the Partnership.

- Looking back at the 2013 what are the reasons that the EaP program became a failure (literally did not come true) generally speaking

- Disagree with this assertion. During the Vilnius Summit all sides endorsed a forward looking Declaration. We have also signed a number of agreements and joint declarations, for example Visa Facilitation Agreement with Azerbaijan, Framework Agreement with Georgia on participation with EU Crisis management Operations, Initialled Association Agreements and Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Areas with Georgia and Moldova, initialled Civil Aviation Agreement with Ukraine, as well as a Joint Statement by the European Union and the Republic of Armenia.

- After the Vilnius summit and events in Ukraine the experts express some ideas that EU did not study well the history of post-soviet countries and did not properly assess the risks before launching the Eastern Partnership program. To what extend this corresponds to the reality?

- Launched in 2009, the Eastern Partnership is a joint initiative between the EU, EU countries and the Eastern European partner countries. It enables partner countries interested in moving towards the EU and increasing political, economic and cultural links to do so. It is underpinned by a shared commitment to international law and fundamental values - democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms - and to the market economy, sustainable development and good governance. The EU has put forward concrete ideas for each partner country. The aim is to improve relations with individual countries.

- What happens in the countries in Eastern Europe and the southern Caucasus matters to the EU. As the EU has expanded, these countries have become closer neighbours, and their security, stability and prosperity increasingly affect the EU’s. Closer cooperation between the EU and its eastern European partners – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine – is very important for the EU's external relations.

- As regards Ukraine, the European Union is currently focusing its efforts on de-escalating the crisis there. The EU calls on all sides to continue engaging in a meaningful and inclusive dialogue leading to a lasting solution; to protect the unity and territorial integrity of the country and to strive to ensure a stable, prosperous and democratic future for all Ukraine's citizens. The EU has also proposed to step-up its support for Ukraine's economic and political reforms.

The EU is committed to a policy of sequenced engagement with Ukraine and to a close relationship that encompasses gradual progress towards political association and economic integration. Ukraine is a priority partner country within the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) and the Eastern Partnership (EaP). The EU has signed the political provisions of the Association Agreement with Ukraine and will proceed to the signature and conclusion of the remaining parts of the Agreement, which together with the political provisions constitute a single instrument.

- What is the reason for postponing several times the Donors conference to be organized in Yerevan? Is it true the opinion expressed in Yerevan that actually the fact that EU was postponing the Donors Conference also had a negative impact on the failure in Vilnius summit expectations.

- From the beginning of discussions on the donor conference, the EU side stressed the importance of having an updated and high quality national development strategy in place, in order to anchor donor support to strategic national reform priorities. 

As the new Armenia Development Strategy at that time was under preparation, the EU was helping to improve its quality through substantial comments and offers for assistance in elaborating the document.  It took much longer than foreseen for the Armenian side to elaborate this document. Intensive preparations for the conference were ongoing with timing already agreed for early 2014 before the Armenian policy turn, so claims that the issue of donor conference would have been a determining factor are not credible.

- At the Vilnius summit Association Agreements were initialled with Georgia and Moldova and MoU with Azerbaijan. What are the present developments with those countries?

- On 21 of March EU heads of state and government took the political decision to sign the AA/DCFTAs with Georgia and Moldova by June of this year. Work is currently in hand to achieve this objective.

Azerbaijan signed the Visa facilitation Agreement at the Vilnius Summit in November 2013, the Mobility Partnership in December 2013 and the Readmission Agreement in February 2014. By April 2014 Azerbaijan has ratified both the visa facilitation and readmission agreements and the European Parliament has given its consent to their conclusion. (Negotiations continue on an Association Agreement and a Strategic Modernisation Partnership as well as on an aviation agreement. The Association Agreement negotiations do not cover DCFTA since Azerbaijan is not yet a member of the WTO.)

- New post-Vilnius situation in Ukraine lead to revolution in the country. New Ukrainian authorities announced that the Association Agreement with EU will be signed, but factually only its political part was signed. Does it mean that such agreement will be signed also with Armenia and if yes, then how and when can it be signed? If the EU is not going to sign only political part of the Association Agreement with Armenia don’t you think that the EU Policy is applying a double standard approach? Why in case of Ukraine the division of the agreement became possible but is not applicable for Armenia?

- Given the extraordinary circumstances and at Ukraine's request, the EU decided to sign, as a measure of support to Ukraine, the political part of the Association Agreement before the 25 May Presidential elections. The agreement has not been split. Regarding the trade part of the Agreement, the Commission has decided to adopt unilateral trade measures that will front-load the benefits to Ukraine of the trade agreement even before its signature. With this approach, Ukraine will have political association as a matter of priority and benefit from an open EU market even before signature of the actual trade deal. This should be seen as a token of EU commitment and solidarity with Ukraine in the current circumstances. Political association and economic integration will thus still go in pair, but in a manner that takes into account the extraordinary needs and circumstances.

In the case of Armenia, too, the AA and DCFTA were negotiated as a single legal instrument. Armenia's decision to join the Customs Union meant that the DCFTA part could no longer be implemented; this meant that the entire legal instrument could no longer be initialled or signed.

- What would be your assessment of EU-Russia relations, especially with the Ukrainian revolution and the referendum in Crimea? How realistic are the use of EU sanctions on Russia?  - According some analysis the use of sanctions will impact negatively the EU itself. Could you comment on this?

- Let me recall you the 20 March 2014 European Council Conclusions. The work in relation to possible further sanctions is on-going. This will also depend on developments on the ground.

The EU stands ready to facilitate and engage in a meaningful dialogue involving Ukraine and Russia. We support all multilateral initiatives towards the aim of de-escalation.

HRVP Ashton holds conversations with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov to discuss the crisis in Ukraine and we are engaged in exploring the precise timing and location for a discussion with Ukraine, Russia and the US next week.

The Foreign Affairs Council will also assess the latest developments on Monday (14 April).

- The last question is not for the near future, but do you see a possibility for EU-CU cooperation?

- We took note of Russia's wish to see more countries join its Customs Union and we believe that those countries currently in the Customs Union also stand to benefit from closer ties with the EU. As President Barroso stressed at the EU-Russia Summit in January, we had hoped to make substantial progress soon towards a comprehensive new agreement between the EU and Russia and remained committed to the goal of an eventual free trade agreement, which could eventually be opened to other countries based on WTO principles and respect for free choice. Discussions on the new agreement have been suspended however since the Foreign Affairs Council 3 March due to Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea.

Interview by Hasmik Harutyunyan