The issue of “European Union or the Eurasian Union?” is not an “and, and” question for Armenia, but “either-or” question. This was stated at the Yerevan seminar by the head of the EU delegation Onno Simons.
Simmons expresses not only his personal point of view but also of the European diplomatic circles. Anyway, if this point of view is not prevailing in the European diplomatic circles, engaged in Armenia, then it is quite noticeable, substantial and widespread. There are no more official announcements yet, but diplomats do not hide backstage and private conversations, that Armenia must choose either the European Union or the Eurasian Union, because they are completely different environments.
The situation is clear. It is practically impossible to play both with European and Soviet-Russian rules simultaneously. The problem is that the rules of the political domain are eventually becoming grounds for public policy. In this context, the question of “the European Union or the Eurasian Union” is firstly the question of the political rules, on which are built the rules of economic and political relations. If it were not for the deep part of the question, then, of course, it would be possible to be engaged with each of them in their own way. But the issue here refers to the choice of civilization; therefore, the nature of any relationship appears to be based on public policy, that is, to become irreversible, irrevocable root, which will not dependent on the power of the government, person or group. They will change, but the rules will remain the same. Europe puts the question in front of Armenia on this very basis, that is, from deep political point of view.
For the government of Armenia, of course, this setting is not desirable, because it deprives them of the opportunity to maneuver. However, Yerevan, sooner or later, will accept this model of the question, because a mere diplomatic complementary surface has exhausted itself and ceased to be a factor of the state’s interests. There should be the basis of civilization “competency” under this complementarism, in case of which it will be possible to build a balanced relationship with all the centers.
