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"BEGGARS" FOR TRUST FROM ABROAD
Armen Arakelyan
http://hetq.am/eng/opinion/21225/beggars-for-trust-from-abroad.html
19:21, December 4, 2012
On November 30, when the President of the European Commission Jose
Manuel Barroso, the President of the European People's Party Wilfried
Martens, the President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili and the Prime
Minister of Moldova Vlad Filat were visiting Armenia to participate
in the second summit of the European People's Party (EPP) Eastern
Partnership held in Yerevan, the Prosperous Armenia Party was making
preparations for a Brussels visit.
In an indirect response Gagik Tsarukyan showed that he fully perceived
the EPP summit as a large-scale PR event for Serzh Sargsyan's
presidential campaign in order to show the West's full support of the
President to the electorate. Tsarukyan also indirectly confirmed that
he lost out not only on that but also the Russian "front."
That was the reason why Tsarukyan's Brussels visit was organized
quickly without making it more or less clear what the leader of
Prosperous Armenia Party had to lose there, what he was expecting from
this visit, and finally, whether those were personal expectations,
or else connected to business, the party or the country.
Last year three Armenian parties (Rule of Law, Heritage and the
Republican Party of Armenia) joined the European People's Party
as observer-members. The Prosperous Armenia Party application was
rejected. That party not only applied earlier than the others, but
also three to four months prior made changes in its program provisions
and regulations in accordance with the EPP's criteria and requirements.
The Prosperous Armenia Party was rejected not only for being
pro-Russian, but also for its personal and economical connection
with the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, who is persona
non grata in Europe.
During the year and a half after the rejection the Prosperous Armenia
Party didn't do anything to adopt European values and make changes. It
did the opposite, emphasizing its almost genetic incongruity with
that mentality and culture.
The Prosperous Armenia Party was the only one among the Armenian
parties that supported Putin's idea for creating the Eurasian Economic
Community and Armenia's joining it. The idea was perceived in Brussels
as a means to counterbalance the European Union and prevent the further
integration of the post-Soviet states and especially the six countries
in the Eastern Partnership.
Basically, Tsarukyan went to Brussels without anything to offer the
Europeans or receive from them. While the Prosperous Armenia Party
was submitting its application to join the EPP in order to cover its
ugly neo-Bolshevik nature with a European lining, the same is still
happening. Thus, it is not determined by the understanding for a need
to change, but by strategic considerations. Otherwise, Tsarukyan had
to go to Brussels not as the owner of the Prosperous Armenia Party,
but as its ordinary leader.
It is possible that Tsarukyan comes back from Brussels having rich or
scant information on meetings with European emissaries and officials.
Thus, nothing can change because while Tsarukyan is running to
Brussels, Brussels itself, embodied by Barroso and Martens, came to
Armenia in order to demonstrate its absolute support for the ruling
regime.
The European Union came to Armenia to claim that regardless of the
Armenian election, it already recognizes Sargsyan's victory. The
reservation has been made. If the President doesn't keep his promise
to be reelected without clamor in the next most democratic elections,
Armenia will not receive the financial aid that is being displayed in
front of our government desperate for a new influx of subsidies. And
Sargsyan should conduct such elections at any cost.
His chances are very high. The National Assembly's second elections in
the single-mandate electoral districts of Avan and Gyumri dispelled all
doubts: the government can get any result it wants. More importantly,
no power could dispute the results of such elections, as it wouldn't
have any objective evidence to prove voting violations.
Europe needs stable, not democratic, elections, meaning that Brussels
needs a stable, predictive and adaptive Armenia, not an Armenia that
respects democracy or human rights. They need a government guided
not by its state interests, but the priority to go along with the
international community. In other words, the European Union is creating
an illusion of democracy and a false European values system in Armenia,
and that requires Sargsyan as president because no one can solve this
issue better than he.
This holds true especially when there is no alternative power
in Armenia with enough resources for public mobilization and is
trustworthy at the same time. That's something the European Union,
the European Council and the Armenian government fully understands. The
Republican Party is as incompatible with democratic values and culture
as the Prosperous Armenia Party. It is as neo-Bolshevik as Prosperous
Armenia. But for both of them a false democracy is the swamp where
they can swim as much as they want.
Today President Sargsyan is visiting Turkmenistan to participate in the
summit of CIS leaders. The Prime Minister of the Russian Federation
Vladimir Putin will be there too, and Sargsyan will meet with him
separately. It has special importance for him as on one hand, it will
alleviate the influence of the EPP conference, and on the other hand,
he will finally get Putin's consent for him to visit Armenia, which
is as important for Sargsyan as was Barroso's visit.
If he succeeds, he will eventually become a president "preferred by
all centers." The question is whether that's enough to be a president
elected by Armenian citizens and whether or not that's a task the
president will put before himself.
Regardless, the strategies of the Prosperous Armenia and the Republican
parties show that both of them are trying to find confidence and
support abroad. It doesn't matter whether in Brussels, Moscow or
Washington. It is essential for both the most powerful parties in
Armenia, and generally for the "political elite", that support from
abroad is more important than confiding in their own nation. No matter
the contempt they have towards their own citizens, it's naturally
impossible to respect an electorate that they have turned into a
"client."
Armen Arakelyan
http://hetq.am/eng/opinion/21225/beggars-for-trust-from-abroad.html
19:21, December 4, 2012
On November 30, when the President of the European Commission Jose
Manuel Barroso, the President of the European People's Party Wilfried
Martens, the President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili and the Prime
Minister of Moldova Vlad Filat were visiting Armenia to participate
in the second summit of the European People's Party (EPP) Eastern
Partnership held in Yerevan, the Prosperous Armenia Party was making
preparations for a Brussels visit.
In an indirect response Gagik Tsarukyan showed that he fully perceived
the EPP summit as a large-scale PR event for Serzh Sargsyan's
presidential campaign in order to show the West's full support of the
President to the electorate. Tsarukyan also indirectly confirmed that
he lost out not only on that but also the Russian "front."
That was the reason why Tsarukyan's Brussels visit was organized
quickly without making it more or less clear what the leader of
Prosperous Armenia Party had to lose there, what he was expecting from
this visit, and finally, whether those were personal expectations,
or else connected to business, the party or the country.
Last year three Armenian parties (Rule of Law, Heritage and the
Republican Party of Armenia) joined the European People's Party
as observer-members. The Prosperous Armenia Party application was
rejected. That party not only applied earlier than the others, but
also three to four months prior made changes in its program provisions
and regulations in accordance with the EPP's criteria and requirements.
The Prosperous Armenia Party was rejected not only for being
pro-Russian, but also for its personal and economical connection
with the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, who is persona
non grata in Europe.
During the year and a half after the rejection the Prosperous Armenia
Party didn't do anything to adopt European values and make changes. It
did the opposite, emphasizing its almost genetic incongruity with
that mentality and culture.
The Prosperous Armenia Party was the only one among the Armenian
parties that supported Putin's idea for creating the Eurasian Economic
Community and Armenia's joining it. The idea was perceived in Brussels
as a means to counterbalance the European Union and prevent the further
integration of the post-Soviet states and especially the six countries
in the Eastern Partnership.
Basically, Tsarukyan went to Brussels without anything to offer the
Europeans or receive from them. While the Prosperous Armenia Party
was submitting its application to join the EPP in order to cover its
ugly neo-Bolshevik nature with a European lining, the same is still
happening. Thus, it is not determined by the understanding for a need
to change, but by strategic considerations. Otherwise, Tsarukyan had
to go to Brussels not as the owner of the Prosperous Armenia Party,
but as its ordinary leader.
It is possible that Tsarukyan comes back from Brussels having rich or
scant information on meetings with European emissaries and officials.
Thus, nothing can change because while Tsarukyan is running to
Brussels, Brussels itself, embodied by Barroso and Martens, came to
Armenia in order to demonstrate its absolute support for the ruling
regime.
The European Union came to Armenia to claim that regardless of the
Armenian election, it already recognizes Sargsyan's victory. The
reservation has been made. If the President doesn't keep his promise
to be reelected without clamor in the next most democratic elections,
Armenia will not receive the financial aid that is being displayed in
front of our government desperate for a new influx of subsidies. And
Sargsyan should conduct such elections at any cost.
His chances are very high. The National Assembly's second elections in
the single-mandate electoral districts of Avan and Gyumri dispelled all
doubts: the government can get any result it wants. More importantly,
no power could dispute the results of such elections, as it wouldn't
have any objective evidence to prove voting violations.
Europe needs stable, not democratic, elections, meaning that Brussels
needs a stable, predictive and adaptive Armenia, not an Armenia that
respects democracy or human rights. They need a government guided
not by its state interests, but the priority to go along with the
international community. In other words, the European Union is creating
an illusion of democracy and a false European values system in Armenia,
and that requires Sargsyan as president because no one can solve this
issue better than he.
This holds true especially when there is no alternative power
in Armenia with enough resources for public mobilization and is
trustworthy at the same time. That's something the European Union,
the European Council and the Armenian government fully understands. The
Republican Party is as incompatible with democratic values and culture
as the Prosperous Armenia Party. It is as neo-Bolshevik as Prosperous
Armenia. But for both of them a false democracy is the swamp where
they can swim as much as they want.
Today President Sargsyan is visiting Turkmenistan to participate in the
summit of CIS leaders. The Prime Minister of the Russian Federation
Vladimir Putin will be there too, and Sargsyan will meet with him
separately. It has special importance for him as on one hand, it will
alleviate the influence of the EPP conference, and on the other hand,
he will finally get Putin's consent for him to visit Armenia, which
is as important for Sargsyan as was Barroso's visit.
If he succeeds, he will eventually become a president "preferred by
all centers." The question is whether that's enough to be a president
elected by Armenian citizens and whether or not that's a task the
president will put before himself.
Regardless, the strategies of the Prosperous Armenia and the Republican
parties show that both of them are trying to find confidence and
support abroad. It doesn't matter whether in Brussels, Moscow or
Washington. It is essential for both the most powerful parties in
Armenia, and generally for the "political elite", that support from
abroad is more important than confiding in their own nation. No matter
the contempt they have towards their own citizens, it's naturally
impossible to respect an electorate that they have turned into a
"client."