3 minute read
Authors of the EU bill in Armenia said Monday that they believe the democratic institutions of the collective West are the guarantors of Armenia’s security.
Lawmakers held a committee hearing on Monday ahead of the second reading of the EU bill.
Opposition MP Armen Gevorgyan from the Hayastan faction recalled the numerous opinions voiced earlier that adopting the bill would enable Armenia to diversify its security environment. He asked the initiators of the bill whether there’ve been any changes in their positions given the latest developments. Gevorgyan argued that the EU itself is in a very difficult situation now.
“We believe even stronger that the level of Armenia’s security will increase as a result of the European integration process, also during the process. Had we called national referendum on September 21 last year, which we had proposed during parliamentary hearings, we would have been in far beneficial situation now,” said Artak Zeynalyan, a former minister of justice and one of the initiators of the petition which eventually entered parliament as the bill.
Zeynalyan said that state security has multiple components while the military component is just one of them. “And we believe that the democratic institutions of the collective West which ensure their people’s freedom and rights are the guarantors of Armenia’s security. The meaning of the existence of the state is to ensure and protect human rights and freedoms,” Zeynalyan said. He said that besides the Council of Europe, none of the organizations where Armenia is a member of has the abovementioned principles.
On February 12, the EU bill passed with 63 votes in favor and 7 against at first reading.
The bill was initiated by several civic organizations through a petition which garnered enough votes to be considered as a bill. It calls on the Armenian authorities to launch the process of EU accession.