Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

EU concerned by Armenian plans to join Russia's Customs Union

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • EU concerned by Armenian plans to join Russia's Customs Union

    New Europe
    Sept 14 2013

    EU concerned by Armenian plans to join Russia's Customs Union


    The unpredictable decision by Armenia's President Serzh Sargsyan that
    Yerevan will join a customs union with Russia has raised doubts over
    Armenia's EU integration path and caused concern in Brussels about
    Europe's relations with its eastern neighbours.

    Armenia was poised to sign a key political and free-trade deal with
    the EU at a summit in November but both Russia and the EU have said
    countries can't have both.

    Armenia's decision prompted a planned debate and vote at the European
    Parliament in Strasbourg this week on Russian pressure on ex-Soviet
    countries to drop EU integration plans. MEPs were expected to
    criticise growing Russian pressure on the EU's eastern neighbours,
    such as Armenia and Ukraine, not to seek to deepen economic and
    political ties with the EU at this November's Eastern Partnership
    summit in Vilnius.

    `I think it was bad news to see that Armenia was falling into this and
    we have a growing concern about this,' a high-ranking official told
    New Europe in Strasbourg on 10 September. `I think that we should
    rebuild a new strategy in order to regain the Eastern Partnership
    influence of the European Union and not to lose more possible and
    potential partners for the future,' the official added, calling for
    defending the European Union as a protagonist in the Eastern
    Partnership.

    Experts note that Armenia took the easy way out by choosing to join
    the Customs Union and point out that Yerevan's political decision
    shows this country is interested in preserving status quo in
    Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Azerbaijan.

    On the other hand, Azerbaijan, which has rich energy resources, plans
    to help the European Union lessen its reliance on Russian gas and is
    seeking to deepen its ties with Brussels, increasingly becoming a
    reliable and predictable partner for the European Union.

    Brussels indicated its reluctance to accept Armenia's offer to
    renegotiate a planned Association Agreement with the EU. `In light of
    Armenia's declared choice to join the Customs Union it is difficult to
    imagine the initialling at Vilnius summit in November of the
    Association Agreement with Armenia as it had been negotiated,' EU
    Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Füle said after talks with visiting
    Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian. `Based on the information we
    presently have, the compatibility of obligations to the Customs Union
    with those under an Association Agreement/DCFTA (Deep and
    Comprehensive Free Trade Area) with the EU looks problematic,' Füle
    added in a statement.

    Europe is also concerned by Georgia's statement that Tbilisi may, in
    due course, also join the Russian Customs Union.

    Speaking on national TV on 4 September, Georgia's Prime Minister
    Bidzina Ivanishvili said: he is keeping a close eye on the Eurasian
    Union `and we are studying it. At this stage we have no position at
    all. If in perspective we see that it is in our country's strategic
    interest, then, why not? But at this stage we have no position at
    all'.

    http://www.neurope.eu/article/eu-concerned-armenian-plans-join-russia%E2%80%99s-customs-union-0

Working...
X