National Assembly Approves Bill to Initiate Armenia’s EU Membership Process

YEREVAN — The National Assembly approved on Wednesday a government-backed bill calling for the “start of a process of Armenia’s accession to the European Union.”

The bill formally endorsed by the Armenian government on January 9 was drafted by several pro-Western political and civic groups largely loyal to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. They collected last year 60,000 signatures in support of their demands for a referendum on joining the EU.

Pashinyan has said that the referendum should be held only after Yerevan and the EU work out a “roadmap” to Armenia’s accession to the bloc. No EU member state has officially voiced support for such a prospect so far. Nor has the EU’s executive body, the European Commission, welcomed Yerevan’s initiative.

“I would like to emphasize that the adoption of the bill in itself does not constitute an application for Armenia’s membership in the European Union,” Deputy Foreign Minister Paruyr Hovannisyan said during a two-day parliament debate on the issue.

Hovannisyan told lawmakers that the bill is only designed to send a “clear message to the European side about moving our partnership to a qualitatively new stage.”

Arman Yeghoyan, the pro-government chairman of the Armenian parliament committee on European integration, noted during the debate that Armenia “can no longer be a member of the EEU” only if it signs a free trade deal with the EU. Yeghoyan seemed to imply that Moscow cannot kick it out of the EEU until then. He said nothing about the Russian arsenal of other punitive measures that could seriously hurt the Armenian economy.

Opposition “Hayastan” faction participated in the vote, while the “Civil Contract” faction voted in favor of the proposal.