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The Foreign Ministers of Poland, Sweden and Bulgaria Radoslav Sikorski, Carl Bildt and Nikolay Mladenov have arrived to Armenia. As it was reported earlier, the ministers are in the country to discuss issues related to Armenia-EU cooperation and the perspectives of development of cooperation within the frameworks of the Eastern Partnership.
Is it possible that by the visit of the Foreign Ministers the EU tries to put pressure on our country in order to clarify Armenia’s position? In the conversation with the First News and Analyses EuFoA’s Secretary General, Dr. Michael Kambeck commented on this saying that Armenia’s position is quite clear and he sees no need for any clarification.
According to Dr. Kambeck, Armenia has stated that it wants to cooperate with the Eurasian Union while it wants to join the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) with the EU.
“The DCFTA is an offer by the EU, which will upgrade Armenia’s standards in the area of trade, customs, economic law, public administration and good governance to the level of the EU. It is never pushed upon any country, as you can see from the examples of Azerbaijan and Belarus. If Armenia doesn’t need or want it, none will push. In fact, if you look at the multi-level decision making structures in Brussels, you see that there is no possible EU strategy to push anything like this, not the one leader or president or government which could order some foreign ministers to go to Armenia and “deliver a message”. The EU does not work like that”, noted Michael Kambeck.
“Armenia needs the DCFTA to grow from the inside, to have better chances for exports, to become more efficient and to strengthen its market in the regional comparison. Armenia has neither oil nor gas, and in today’s situation with closed borders, the EU’s offer is attractive. You can see in many of the new EU member states but also in non-member states like Norway or Croatia that such a reform package and the connected EU assistance really work, and it attracts investors and boosts the economy”, he concluded.