Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has stated that the Armenian government’s strategic objective is to align the country with European Union standards across all sectors, even if that does not lead to EU membership.
Speaking at the Democracy Forum held in Yerevan today, he said: “Our main task is to meet EU standards. Once we reach that point, whether we're accepted or not, we will have achieved our goal. We’ll have resolved the issue of our standards.”
The prime minister explained that questions often arise about whether Armenia’s EU accession is realistic, but the government's main mission remains attaining EU-level reforms and benchmarks, Sputnik Armenia reported.
On March 26, Armenia’s National Assembly passed a bill in its second and final reading to begin the EU accession process, sparking intense debate.
Reacting to Armenia's move, the Kremlin stated that membership in both the EU and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) is impossible. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk remarked that the EU and EAEU are incompatible and described Armenia’s decision as the beginning of its exit from the EAEU. He likened the move to “buying a ticket on the Titanic.”
