Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan stated that bureaucracy should not outweigh political decisions regarding Armenia’s integration with the European Union. He made the remarks during a high-level discussion titled “From Lisbon to Yerevan: outlining Europe’s strategy for a wide neighborhood.”
According to him, the EU must make a political decision, Armenpress reports.
“We must not allow bureaucracy to prevail over political decisions. Politics is the field, the path where we — our people, our country — must decide. Politically, the EU must act.
We will continue our reforms, strengthen our democratic institutions, and raise the quality standards of our products to make integration feasible. In the end, the decision must be political.
If you, as the EU, accept us, we will all benefit. If you reject us, even then we will have reformed institutions, and that too will be beneficial. So yes, we must be more courageous, more political, and less bureaucratic,” said Mirzoyan.
On March 26, Armenia’s National Assembly passed the bill to launch the EU accession process in its second and final reading. The government had approved the draft on January 9, submitted by the Eurovote civic initiative. However, the EU has yet to issue an official invitation for Armenia’s membership. Opposition forces have called the measure legally absurd. The President of Armenia has signed it into law.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk also remarked that Armenia cannot “sit on two chairs” and will ultimately have to choose between the Eurasian Economic Union and the EU.
