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Armenian president aims to calm public anger by new agreement with EU

25 March 2017 [17:18] - TODAY.AZ

By  Trend


Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, by announcing a new EU-Armenia agreement, wants to soothe popular anger over the worsening domestic socio-economic situation, reads an article posted on the website of The Jamestown Foundation.

On Feb. 27, Armenia concluded negotiations with the EU on a comprehensive and expanded partnership agreement, which is expected to be signed this year, possibly as early as May, said the article.

“The government is also trying to change the narrative that Armenia has become Russia’s vassal, which has completely distanced itself from the West.”

The elections will be the first since the constitutional amendments of 2017 that have restructured the country from a presidential to a parliamentary republic. The amendments are viewed as serving incumbent President Sargsyan’s plan to maintain power as prime minister. In the meantime, domestic tensions in Armenia are rising. Recent armed incidents involving parliamentary candidates of the ruling and opposition parties are just a case in point, according to the article.

“Over the past year, particularly after the deadly April 2016 clashes with Azerbaijan in Karabakh, significant swathes of Armenian society have become disillusioned with Russia.”

Furthermore, Armenia’s diplomatic failure to rally support from its allies within the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), particularly from Belarus and Kazakhstan, is another factor driving Yerevan to upgrade its relations with the EU, read the article.

The article stated that Sargsyan publicly criticized the CSTO during his recent visit to Russia, where he met with his counterpart, Vladimir Putin.

“It was following a meeting with Putin on September 3, 2013, that President Sargsyan initially abandoned the AA [Association Agreement] to join the Russia-led Customs Union and then the EEU. He recently stated that the 2013 decision was motivated by the fact that “otherwise Armenia would pay for Russian energy supplies at world market prices.”

President Sargsyan has suggested that the new agreement is not much different from the 2013 agreement, the article said.

But in fact, the agreement is drastically different because it lacks any free-trade component due to Armenia’s obligations under the EEU. Moreover, the country’s memberships in the EEU and CSTO effectively bar serious European integration perspectives for Armenia, according to the article.

It was also noted that the full text of the agreement has not yet been made public, and the details remain unspecified.

“This allows Yerevan, in the meantime, to sell the domestic audience on the importance of the new agreement, which is likely to be little more than a rhetorical upgrade of existing Armenian-EU relations.”

URL: http://www.today.az/news/regions/159713.html

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