European parliamentarians refused to travel to Yerevan to attend the meeting of the Armenia-EU Parliamentary Cooperation Committee just because of preparations for the elections to the European Parliament, Samvel Farmanyan, Armenian MP (Republican Party), Co- Chair of the Armenia-EU Parliamentary Cooperation Committee, told ArmInfo.
He said that the Committee meets once a year in Strasbourg, Brussels and Yerevan by rotation. "Last year the Committee convened in Brussels. This year it was to meet in Yerevan on 29-30 October, but our European partners informed us that they would not be able to attend the meeting due to their packed schedule ahead of the next year's elections to the European Parliament," Farmanyan said.
The parliamentarian said the European parliamentarians suggested holding the meeting of the Committee Bureau at the level of the heads of the delegations. "We are well aware that some people would interpret the actions of European parliamentarians as policy-driven. We are where we are. However, I see nothing sensational or extraordinary in their refusal. We respect the decision of our European partners and their arguments regarding the elections. The Bureau is also a format of cooperation and we will discuss perspective of cooperation in the full format, including the date of the next meeting of the Committee, at the upcoming meeting of the Bureau," Farmanyan said.
It was reported earlier that the European parliamentarians refused to travel to Yerevan following Armenia's decision to access the Customs Union.