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ARMENIA: JOINING EAEU -2
Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Nov 19 2014
19 November 2014 - 12:19pm
By Susanna Petrosyan, Yerevan. Exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza
During the recent debates on the state project budget of 2015,
lawmakers suddenly realized that there was not a word about the EaEU,
no calculations of the risks and consequences of joining the EaEU.
According to the Deputy Finance Minister Pavel Safaryan, the budget
could not legally take the economic impact of EaEU membership into
account because the country was not a member of the organization when
the budget was being formed. Safaryan stated that specialists of the
government were studying all the factors and consequences of joining
the Union. The results of their work will probably be presented at
the first parliamentary session in December.
Such explanations seem somewhat odd, considering the process of joining
the EaEU, including all the discussions and official meetings held
throughout the year. The behaviour of the Armenian side shows that
the decision to join the EaEU is political.
"Economic motives were not the decisive and determining factor in the
choice of the EaEU for Armenia. Such a choice was dictated by the need
for a decision, first of all on security problems. The CSTO format
allows for the protection of Armenia's borders. Membership of the EaEU
will preserve the status quo in the zone of the Karabakh conflict and
enforce security in Nagorno-Karabakh," assumes Agavni Karakhanyan, the
director of the Institute of Civil Society and Regional Development.
Alexander Markarov, the director of the Armenian branch of the
Institute of CIS Countries, believes that the choice of Armenia
was natural due to its geopolitical position. Moreover, the EaEU is
formally an economic union, though it is generally seen as a political
and economic structure.
Many politicians and experts note the circumstance that cooperation
of Armenia with the EU would continue even after becoming a member
of the EaEU.
All the opposition parties, except the Heritage Party, want the
country to join the EaEU.
"Membership of the EaEU issues from the vital interests of Armenia.
ARF Dashnaktsutyun approves joining the structure, taking security
issues into account. However, we believe that Armenia should have
equal rights as other members in the union," said Armen Rustamyan,
the head of the ARFD faction in the parliament.
According to ANC leader Levon Ter-Petrosyan, Armenia's membership in
the EaEU is an irreversible fact: "Any convulsions over the reality
are late, pointless and harmful now. Is it really hard to understand
that Armenia would have disappeared from the map of the world if it
sustained at least 10% of Ukraine's losses? It is strange that even the
West is fine with that, while other people continue speaking against
the EaEU. A bunch of people does not want to consider the reality,
trying to provoke artificial anti-Russian moods in Armenia and unable
to understand that there are no grounds for that."
Concerning the population, the most important indicator of adequate
cognition of the reality is the lack of social support for opponents
of the EaEU. A little over 30-50 people, including journalists,
can be seen at anti-EaEU protests.
http://vestnikkavkaza.net/analysis/politics/62318.html
Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Nov 19 2014
19 November 2014 - 12:19pm
By Susanna Petrosyan, Yerevan. Exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza
During the recent debates on the state project budget of 2015,
lawmakers suddenly realized that there was not a word about the EaEU,
no calculations of the risks and consequences of joining the EaEU.
According to the Deputy Finance Minister Pavel Safaryan, the budget
could not legally take the economic impact of EaEU membership into
account because the country was not a member of the organization when
the budget was being formed. Safaryan stated that specialists of the
government were studying all the factors and consequences of joining
the Union. The results of their work will probably be presented at
the first parliamentary session in December.
Such explanations seem somewhat odd, considering the process of joining
the EaEU, including all the discussions and official meetings held
throughout the year. The behaviour of the Armenian side shows that
the decision to join the EaEU is political.
"Economic motives were not the decisive and determining factor in the
choice of the EaEU for Armenia. Such a choice was dictated by the need
for a decision, first of all on security problems. The CSTO format
allows for the protection of Armenia's borders. Membership of the EaEU
will preserve the status quo in the zone of the Karabakh conflict and
enforce security in Nagorno-Karabakh," assumes Agavni Karakhanyan, the
director of the Institute of Civil Society and Regional Development.
Alexander Markarov, the director of the Armenian branch of the
Institute of CIS Countries, believes that the choice of Armenia
was natural due to its geopolitical position. Moreover, the EaEU is
formally an economic union, though it is generally seen as a political
and economic structure.
Many politicians and experts note the circumstance that cooperation
of Armenia with the EU would continue even after becoming a member
of the EaEU.
All the opposition parties, except the Heritage Party, want the
country to join the EaEU.
"Membership of the EaEU issues from the vital interests of Armenia.
ARF Dashnaktsutyun approves joining the structure, taking security
issues into account. However, we believe that Armenia should have
equal rights as other members in the union," said Armen Rustamyan,
the head of the ARFD faction in the parliament.
According to ANC leader Levon Ter-Petrosyan, Armenia's membership in
the EaEU is an irreversible fact: "Any convulsions over the reality
are late, pointless and harmful now. Is it really hard to understand
that Armenia would have disappeared from the map of the world if it
sustained at least 10% of Ukraine's losses? It is strange that even the
West is fine with that, while other people continue speaking against
the EaEU. A bunch of people does not want to consider the reality,
trying to provoke artificial anti-Russian moods in Armenia and unable
to understand that there are no grounds for that."
Concerning the population, the most important indicator of adequate
cognition of the reality is the lack of social support for opponents
of the EaEU. A little over 30-50 people, including journalists,
can be seen at anti-EaEU protests.
http://vestnikkavkaza.net/analysis/politics/62318.html