Armenia`s premier clarifies bill launching process of Armenia`s  accession to EU

ArmInfo. The draft law <On the beginning of the process of accession of the Republic of Armenia to the European Union>, approved today at the session of the RA Parliament, should not be perceived as an application for immediate accession to the EU. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan made this clarification immediately after the document was presented by the  Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic.

The collection of signatures in order to submit the draft law <On the beginning of the process of accession of the Republic of Armenia to the European Union> for discussion in parliament was carried out in September-October 2024. The initiative belongs to the <Platform of Democratic Forces>, formed by pro- Western political forces. They managed to collect 60,000 signatures instead of the required 50,000, and the Central Election Commission of the Republic recognized them  as valid on December 10, 2024 and the issue was submitted to  parliament for discussion. Today, the Cabinet of Ministers,  represented by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, proposed expressing a positive position on the initiative, based on <a number of circumstances>.

<It is important to correctly understand the essence and context of this issue. In the fall of 2023, I delivered a speech in the European Parliament, the main message of which was the following: Armenia is ready to be as close to the EU as the EU deems possible. At that time, this was the speech that aroused the greatest interest in Armenia. The reaction of Armenian citizens to this speech was unprecedented>, the Prime Minister noted.

After that, on April 5, 2024, a trilateral meeting between Armenia, the US and the EU was held at the initiative of the EU, which was widely covered. This was a meeting in an unprecedented format, Pashinyan noted.

Then, he continued, against this background, a civil initiative was formed and, having collected 50,000 signatures in the manner prescribed by the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia, they presented a legislative initiative.

<De jure, the government's position is as follows: the government does not object to the adoption of this law, but I also want to note what this means. This does not mean Armenia's membership in the European Union in the literal sense of the word, because achieving this point or making a decision on this point cannot be at the level of law or even a government decision. The decision can only be made  through a referendum, there is no other option>, Pashinyan said, emphasizing that the decision to join the European Union and the supranational organization as a whole, according to the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia, can only be made through a referendum.

According to him, in any of the scenarios, Armenia can become a member of the EU only if a referendum is called and a certain number of votes <for> from the number of referendum participants are received in the manner prescribed by the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia.

The Prime Minister also noted that after the adoption of the law, a certain idea of actions should be formed, including whether or not to hold a potential referendum.

"I believe that after the adoption of this law, we must discuss with the EU the roadmap that they present and that we present, we must develop a roadmap together. As far as I understand, the Republic of Armenia cannot take any action, at least for now, before the start of negotiations on the creation of a roadmap. I say this in order to correctly formulate public expectations," the Prime Minister noted.

As Pashinyan pointed out, during this time, very serious developments have taken place in the relations between Armenia and the EU, one of which is the start of negotiations on visa liberalization, an issue that has been on Armenia's agenda for decades. "Now, this atmosphere, for obvious reasons, has given rise to expectations among Armenian citizens that this issue will be resolved as quickly and efficiently as possible, especially since there is currently a major problem related to obtaining visas to EU countries," he said. 

The premier also pointed to the EU's decision that "Armenia should become part of the European Instrument for Peace, which is a very important political decision." "It is not very significant in terms of volume, scale of financial and technical assistance, at least at the moment, but in political terms it is a very significant decision," he added.

<We must balance all these ideas that, in my opinion, there is  nothing to worry about and nothing to strain ourselves about. By this we emphasize the availability of tools for using Armenia's sovereign rights and the fact that we are pursuing an independent foreign policy based on our state interests>, - Nikol Pashinyan summarized.

The referendum will take place if the deputies approve this bill. If they reject it, the referendum may take place - and without  discussion in parliament. But only if the initiators manage to  collect five times more signatures, that is, 300 thousand. Moreover, at the second stage, those almost 60 thousand people who have already supported the initiative will not be able to join the voting.