"Europe has not lost Armenia. Armenia
has lost the European perspective," Elmar Brok, the chairman of the
Brussels-based parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, told RFE/RL's Armenian
service (Azatutyun.am).
Brok said that the dramatic foreign policy U-turn
announced by President Serzh Sarkisian on September 3 was the result of
"incredible" pressure from Russia. He accused Moscow of exploiting
its close security ties with Yerevan to force the latter into the customs union
and thereby thwart the signing of an Armenia-EU Association Agreement.
To note, earlier the European Parliament discussed the
report on the progress of European Neighborhood Policy.
The chapter on Armenia is to be revised in relation to
Yerevan's decision to join the Customs Union.
Earlier the report said that Armenia had registered big progress in the
Association Agreement talks despite some shortage of democracy. Now, however,
the chapter on Armenia will seriously be amended at the suggestion of the
European Union.