ArmInfo.Yet there are no concrete terms for signing agreement on comprehensive and expanded partnership between Armenia and the European Union. Head of the EU Delegation in Armenia Piotr Switalski told during the press conference today, adding that technical improvements are being done on the document currently.
At that, he stressed that the Armenian side for itself set a deadline for signing before the November Summit of the Eastern Partnership in Brussels. "Let's hope that this will be the case, and the agreement will be finalized in the second half of this year," he said, adding that at present one of the most important parts of the Agreement is already prepared for the Partnership Priorities Treaty, which should receive mandatory approval from all the member countries for the further continuation of the process.
"At present, the document has been sent for consideration to all member countries. Let's hope that in a week the document will receive a "green light", - said Switalski, adding that after reaching the final consensus, the financial side of the document will be discussed.
In his turn, the head of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament David McAllister, who is in Yerevan within the framework of the regional visit, stressed that this time Armenia is determined to sign the Agreement with the EU. "I saw this determination during the meeting with the Armenian President, which, by the way, lasted much longer than the recorded one," he noted, excluding the possibility of repeating this time the scenario of 2013, when after three years of negotiations with the EU, Armenia unexpectedly refused to sign the Association Agreement and Declared about the intention of Eurasian integration.
"I want everyone to understand that at the base of the Agreement on a comprehensive and expanded partnership between Armenia and the European Union is not the desire to compete with any of the other actors in the region, in particular, with Russia. Consequently, Armenia has no reason to refuse to sign the document. The agreement is based on democratic and universal values, "the European parliamentarian stressed, assuring that Armenia is an important partner for the EU, which is encouraged by the prospect of signing a new agreement with it.
According to McAllister, the signing of the new agreement will facilitate the activation of cooperation between EU and Armenia, which, remarkably, is an active actor in the Eurasian Economic Union against this background. "And this means that the EU Eastern Partnership program is a really effective and effective format for its partners," he said.
To note, in March 2017 Armenia and the EU initialed the Agreement on Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership. It is noteworthy that before the new negotiations and after the republic's joining the EEU, the relations between Yerevan and Brussels entered a somewhat passive phase, since before that, Armenia, after three years of negotiations, abruptly refused to sign the Association Agreement with the EU in favor of Eurasian integration. Some experts, then, predicted the complete cooling of relations between Yerevan and Brussels.