Brussels, 20/01/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 20 January, the European Union and Armenia underlined that they wanted to strengthen their cooperation in 2015.
In autumn 2013, Armenia decided to join the customs union with Russia - which prevented it from signing an EU association agreement, including a deep and comprehensive free trade area.
“2015 is a very important year in EU-Armenia relations. We expect the assessment to be a success for seeing areas of cooperation compatible with Armenia's participation in the Eurasian union”, said Latvia's foreign minister, Edgars Rinkevics, at the end of the 15th EU-Armenia Cooperation Council. “We still have to make final clarifications on the areas in which we can cooperate with Armenia. I hope to finish all this in February so as to bring this joint reflection to an end”, said Johannes Hahn, the European commissioner for European neighbourhood policy and enlargement negotiations. Stating that the Eastern Partnership summit was to be held in Riga at the end of May, Rinkevics said that ideally the launch of negotiations for a new EU-Armenia agreement would take place during this event. Hahn said that as much use as possible should be made of the negotiations on the association agreement “so that it can serve as a reference framework”. He added that this framework should be adapted according to Armenia's participation in the Eurasian union, but that the main elements of it should be kept.
“We will deepen our partnership, and develop it more before taking account of the commitments that are ours, given our other commitments”, said Armenia's foreign minister, Edward Nalbandian, who underlined that his country wanted to deepen overall cooperation with the EU on the many laws made recently in all possible areas. He particularly highlighted the areas of mobility, migration, and contact between people.
Hahn also urged Armenia to speed up certain reforms, especially as regards “democracy and the rule of law, the fight against corruption, human rights and fundamental freedoms, reform of the constitution, and judicial reform”. Special attention should be paid to reforming the electoral system, freedom of the media and the important role of civil society, he said.
Rinkevics also underlined that a solution to the “unacceptable” conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh between Armenia and Azerbaijan remained an “absolute priority” for the European Union. (CG)