Edmond Marukyan: Armenia has regressed in various areas without  signing an agreement with the EU in 2013

ArmInfo.The agreement on an expanded and comprehensive partnership is the version of the Association Agreement that does not contradict Armenia's obligations within the framework of the EAEU. On November 11, Edmond Marukyan, deputy of the Elk faction, told journalists.

According to him, Armenia has lost four years, since in 2013 it could  sign an agreement of this kind with the EU. As a result of this,  according to Marukyan, in recent years Armenia has experienced  regress in various areas.

Nevertheless, according to the deputy of the Elk bloc, the greatest  successes among the Eastern Partnership countries were registered by  Armenia, having fulfilled its tasks best of all.

The Armenia-EU comprehensive and expanded partnership agreement is  intended to replace the Association Agreement, which was agreed by  Yerevan and Brussels, but they were not initialed, since in September  2013 Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan unexpectedly for many  announced Armenia's decision to participate in the Eurasian  integration, which, in fact, meant a disruption of the signing of the  Association Agreement. Many analysts then suggested that the reason  for the sharp change was the strong pressure from Moscow. However,  official Yerevan did not admit this.

Yerevan and Brussels later began to consider the possibility of  negotiating a less ambitious agreement, which would not contradict  Armenia's obligations in the framework of its membership in the  Eurasian Economic Union. The EU High Representative for Foreign  Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, after meeting with  Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian on December 7, 2015 in  Brussels, said that the start of a new negotiating stage would close  the page of uncertainty that emerged after 2013. On February 27,  2017, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, after talks with European  Council President Donald Tusk in Brussels, announced the completion  of the talks. On March 21, 2017, Armenia and the EU initialed the  Agreement on Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership. It is expected  that the agreement will be signed on November 24 at the EaP Summit in  Brussels.