"Armenia's accession to the Customs Union is impossible, as a matter of fact", Director of the Caucasus Institute Alexander Iskandaryan said during a roundtable in Yerevan on Thursday.
The expert thinks that the lack of borders is not the biggest problem. "The Customs Union was designed for Kazakhstan and Belarus, and what they need runs counter to what Armenia needs. Kazakhstan and Russia produce and export energy resources, and they need the Customs Union for that purpose. Armenian imports the energy resources", Iskandaryan said. "In addition, the Customs Union is thousands of pages that have been written for years. Armenia cannot sign it at once for obvious reasons", he said.
Iskandaryan thinks that the decision on Armenia's accession to the Customs Union was political and had no alternatives. He said that anyone in President Serzh Sargsyan's place would have been forced to make the same decision.
"Unlike Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova, Armenia has a problem of security. Pressure or some influence may be exerted on Moldova or Ukraine from the economic viewpoint, for instance, in terms of communication, movement of people, etc. All these things are reimbursable. It is a matter of money, and the EU can compensate for it. As regards Georgia, Russia has no instruments to influence Georgia. It has already done what it could do, and Georgia has nothing to lose. But when the security is staked on, Armenia cannot step over this line. In other words, the specified countries have not got their own Azerbaijans", said Iskandaryan. He added that the signing of the AA/DCFTA is impossible, though the Armenian authorities will try to leave for Vilnius and sign something. In the meantime, it is also extremely hard to sign only the political part of the Agreement, because numerous technical issues will arise. "Anyway, Europe will probably try to find a way to resume negotiations with Armenia, and European Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Fule's visit to Yerevan is direct evidence of that", said Iskandaryan.
To note, the roundtable was organized by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS). The Armenian Office of the Foundation was launched in 2008. It advocates strengthening of democracy and European integration.