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EU: ARMENIA WAS BLACKMAILED
Radio Liberty: Armenia's surprise pledge to join the customs union of
Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan will thwart its Association Agreement
with the European Union, EU officials confirmed late on Tuesday.
News reports quoted Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius of Lithuania,
the current EU president, as saying that Armenian membership in the
Russian-led union will be incompatible with the key element of he
planned agreement: the creation of a "deep and comprehensive free
trade area" with the EU.
"We respect any choice of countries but they cannot enter both
organizations at the same time because of different tariff
requirements," Linkevicius told the AFP news agency.
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, whose country has been a key
backer of association deals with ex-Soviet states, made similar
comments on Twitter. "Seems as if Armenia will break talks on free
trade agreement with EU and integrate with Russia instead," he wrote.
Armenia negotiated 4 years to get Association Agreement with EU. Now
President [Serzh Sarkisian] prefers Kremlin to Brussels," Bildt added
in a separate entry.
Elmar Brok, the German chairman of the European Parliament's Foreign
Affairs Committee, likewise said Armenia's Association Agreement
will not be signed any time soon. "I feel very sorry because it is
legally -- because of certain conditions -- not possible to be a full
member both of the Customs Union and have an association agreement
and free trade area agreement with the European Union," he told an
RFE/RL correspondent in Brussels.
Brok blamed Russia for Yerevan's U-turn that was announced after
Sarkisian's talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. "A small
country like Armenia was blackmailed to make such a decision," he said.
Asked about the future of Armenia's relationship with the EU, the
lawmaker said, "There will be a relationship as we have with every
country but not a relationship with a European perspective."
The European Commission, the EU's executive body, has not yet
officially reacted to the development. A spokesman for EU Enlargement
Commissioner Stefan Fuele told RFE/RL that he is "currently consulting
our Armenian partners on the latest developments" and that the
"potential implications" will be examined when "all the necessary
details" emerge.
Radio Liberty 09:29 04/09/2013 Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/index/eng/0/politics/view/30803
Radio Liberty: Armenia's surprise pledge to join the customs union of
Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan will thwart its Association Agreement
with the European Union, EU officials confirmed late on Tuesday.
News reports quoted Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius of Lithuania,
the current EU president, as saying that Armenian membership in the
Russian-led union will be incompatible with the key element of he
planned agreement: the creation of a "deep and comprehensive free
trade area" with the EU.
"We respect any choice of countries but they cannot enter both
organizations at the same time because of different tariff
requirements," Linkevicius told the AFP news agency.
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, whose country has been a key
backer of association deals with ex-Soviet states, made similar
comments on Twitter. "Seems as if Armenia will break talks on free
trade agreement with EU and integrate with Russia instead," he wrote.
Armenia negotiated 4 years to get Association Agreement with EU. Now
President [Serzh Sarkisian] prefers Kremlin to Brussels," Bildt added
in a separate entry.
Elmar Brok, the German chairman of the European Parliament's Foreign
Affairs Committee, likewise said Armenia's Association Agreement
will not be signed any time soon. "I feel very sorry because it is
legally -- because of certain conditions -- not possible to be a full
member both of the Customs Union and have an association agreement
and free trade area agreement with the European Union," he told an
RFE/RL correspondent in Brussels.
Brok blamed Russia for Yerevan's U-turn that was announced after
Sarkisian's talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. "A small
country like Armenia was blackmailed to make such a decision," he said.
Asked about the future of Armenia's relationship with the EU, the
lawmaker said, "There will be a relationship as we have with every
country but not a relationship with a European perspective."
The European Commission, the EU's executive body, has not yet
officially reacted to the development. A spokesman for EU Enlargement
Commissioner Stefan Fuele told RFE/RL that he is "currently consulting
our Armenian partners on the latest developments" and that the
"potential implications" will be examined when "all the necessary
details" emerge.
Radio Liberty 09:29 04/09/2013 Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/index/eng/0/politics/view/30803