Time in Yerevan: 11:07,   19 March 2024

2019 was productive year for Armenia-EU relations – political scientist

2019 was productive year for Armenia-EU relations – political scientist

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 25, ARMENPRESS. 2019 was quite a productive year for the Armenia-European Union relations, Political scientist Narek Minasyan told a press conference in Armenpress, adding that this is conditioned with several factors.

“There was the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement signed between Armenia and the EU, which is a very important tool. As long as the CEPA is not ratified by EU’s all member states, it’s still at the temporary implementation stage. At the moment there is an opportunity to implement 80% of the agreement”, he said.

The political scientist added that an important step was taken this year in June as Yerevan and Brussels agreed over the CEPA’s implementation roadmap. “The roadmap shows the sequence of actions with a clear timetable and funding. In other words, the steps of the reforms are clearly enshrined with the timetable. This is highly appreciated by the European partners”, he said.

The next important process is the ratification of the agreement by the EU member states. Minasyan said during this period there were opinions that the ratification process is being prolonged. However, he opposed this, adding that in any case we deal with complex procedures.

“The agreement has been ratified by nearly two dozen EU member states which is quite a good figure. As for the procedures, we should take into account that there are certain processes which require time, as they pass in the committees, in some countries the parliaments are bicameral, and in addition, the agreement also needs to be translated into the language of that particular country, and so on”, the political scientist said.

The next important issue is the EU’s support provided to Armenia’s reforms. The EU provides support to the judicial reforms, anti-corruption fight, democratic institutions development, etc.

“For 2020 the EU plans to provide Armenia 150 million Euros”, he said.

As for the visa liberalization processes Narek Minasyan said the ongoing reforms in Armenia created quite a positive background for moving forward this issue. He said this year it was recorded by the EU side that Brussels doesn’t see any problem for the visa liberalization. The political scientist said in recent period number of Armenian citizens seeking asylum in the EU states has declined, which in its turn can positively affect the process.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan

 








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