Thursday, June 14 2018 15:10

ArmInfo.The EU's key goal is to help its partners be prepared for possible unrest and  unpredictable processes. This June 14 in Yerevan at the conference "The future of the Eastern Partnership in times of unrest," said the head of the EU delegation in Armenia Piotr Switalsky.

"This conference is being held at the right time, but I would like to  touch on the topic of this conference - the future of the Eastern  Partnership during the period of unrest. I believe that we should get  used to the fact that unrest is part of our daily life, our times. We  are looking for predictability, we want to have stable institutions  and structures, and we want to know what the future will be like, but  recently, turbulent processes have been taking place in the region  and in Armenia .Turns sometimes lead to negative consequences, and  sometimes they can lead to postures to the active processes, "the  European diplomat said. He added that so often refers to the term  "excitement" in order to demonstrate why the EU puts such a serious  emphasis on the word present in the EaP documents - this is the word  "flexibility". According to him, this is the key word for the EU in  matters of interaction with the EaP countries.

According to Switalsky, the EU wants to help its partners have  flexible economies, states, and societies. "This is very important  from the point of view of understanding the EU policy, we know that  we can not give a ready recipe or solution for our neighbors, so we  need flexible and solid structures that include state institutions  and civil society.  Each possible element which will allow preparing  our society to unpredictable processes, I can only hope that these  processes will be more positive than negative, but we must be ready,  "said the ambassador, and stressed once again that the EU's key goal  is to help its partners be ready to possible unrest and unpredictable  processes.

At the same time, the European diplomat noted that the EU EP policy  is one of the successful examples of the policy of involvement in the  region, however, this is not part of the policy of expansion - it is  a necessity for the European Union to make these countries more  involved. According to him, the statistical indicators of the last  ten years show the growing involvement of the EU in all directions.  "We should consider the Eastern Partnership as a machine that allows  the EU to have a more transparent and pragmatic engagement.There are  different conspiracy theories about the objectives of the Armed  Forces, but if, if we look at the EaP goal, these conspiracy theories  get negative color and crumble. The EU's goal with respect to its  neighbors is just a necessity to confront the challenges arising in  the neighborhood and affect the European Union, "the ambassador said.

At the same time, he noted that another challenge, which is becoming  increasingly evident, is the growing contradiction between  expectations and ambitions towards the EU from the perspective of  regional partners.

At the same time, he stressed that after the Riga EU summit there is  a clear division of the "3 + 2", and the region is becoming  increasingly diverse in terms of aspirations towards the EU, and this  is what will affect the effectiveness of the EaP. According to  Switalskiy, even before the Brussels summit of the EaP, the question  was raised of how to compare the usefulness of the Eastern  Partnership with the different levels of ambition and the different  agendas of some EU member states. At the same time, the diplomat  stressed that the agenda of bilateral cooperation will always be a  priority. "The EP is intended to complement the bilateral agenda of  cooperation, which is a difficult challenge, since for some members  of the EaP the bilateral agenda is practically everything." For the  EU, the factor of regional cooperation, the use of various factors,  so that Georgia and Armenia are more closely aligned, so that Belarus  and Ukraine cooperate more closely We want to help these countries to  cooperate with each other more than ever.The Brussels Summit of the  EaP opened a new chapter in the interaction, which we call the head  of practical action and pragmatism. 2020 targets are part of this  chapter, I am sure that 20 targets should be the starting point on  the agenda of bilateral cooperation between our countries ",  the  ambassador said.

At the same time, he expressed his belief that some elements of these  goals could be of great importance for Armenia as well. Swatalsky  urged his Armenian colleagues to look at these 20 goals as a useful  factor for the bilateral agenda.