Thursday, April 4 2024 14:40

ArmInfo.Armenia has many historical and cultural ties with Europe. Ambassador of France to Armenia Olivier Decottignies stated in an interview with the Public Television of Armenia when asked to assess the prospects for rapprochement between Armenia and the EU.

"As a Frenchman, I am surprised that the only foreign king resting in  the Necropolis of the Kings of Saint- Denis in France is the Armenian  king Levon Lusinian, the king of Cilicia. We have strong ties with  Armenia. This is more than relevant for us, the French, who have  "Heroes such as Missak Manouchian , who was recently reburied in the  Pantheon. One of the symbols of our language and culture is Charles  Aznavour. They are Armenians, French-Armenians. This closeness is  obvious to us," the French diplomat said.

At the same time, he is convinced that Armenia has made its choice in  recent years by turning to Europe,, strengthening democracy,  developing the rule of law, with its bold decisions, such as  ratifying the Rome Statute, becoming one of the participating states  of the International Criminal Court.

"Thus, Armenia is showing a real rapprochement with Europe," Mr  Decottignies noted.

"However, the Armenian leadership must decide whether they want to  become a candidate for EU membership or not. This is a legal,  official process, and as of today the Armenian government has not  formulated this request," he explained.

In response to the presenter's remark that the Prime Minister of  Armenia has already stated that Armenia is ready to get closer to the  EU as much as the EU finds it possible, the ambassador expressed  confidence that this beautiful formulation made by the head of the  Armenian government reflects the position of many Armenians.

"However, European-Armenia rapprochement is a large-scale process  that has already begun, France, represented by President Macron, has  initiated work on interesting topics for Europe as a continent, apart  from EU countries. We are talking about the European Political  Community, of which Armenia is a member and participates in its  meetings," the diplomat noted.  In this regard, he reminded that  progress was made in the negotiations to achieve peace with  Azerbaijan in October 2022 in Prague within the framework of the  European Political Community, so Armenia has already committed to  follow this path.