“The ruling majority of Armenia is seriously considering whether to submit an application for EU membership or not, and the government will make an announcement at an opportune moment after reaching a conclusion,” said Arman Yeghoyan, the chairman of the Armenian parliament committee on European integration.
Parliament speaker Alen Simonian, a more influential member of Pashinian’s political team, was the first to publicly float the idea in late February amid a further deterioration of Armenia’s relations with Russia. Pashinian reportedly discussed it with parliament deputies from his Civil Contract party in the following days.
The premier was buoyed by a March 13 European Parliament resolution that seemed to encourage the South Caucasus country to seek eventual membership of the 27-nation bloc. But he has made no further public statements on the issue since then.
The issue was brought back to the political agenda this week by several pro-Western fringe groups loyal to Pashinian. They urged his government to hold a referendum within the next three months to gauge public support for an EU membership bid.
The Armenian parliament controlled by the ruling party promptly organized hearings on the proposal on Friday. Yeghoyan commented cautiously on the proposed referendum when he spoke at the end of the six-hour hearings chaired by him. He made clear that such a vote could be held only after Yerevan’s possible decision to apply for EU candidate status and positive feedback from Brussels.
Yeghoyan also said Armenia should weigh up economic consequences of such a dramatic move. In particular, he said, it should clarify whether Armenian food-processing companies are ready to comply with the EU’s stringent food quality standards.
An EU membership bid would presumably require Armenia’s exit from the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization and Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), a trade bloc that gives Armenia’s exporters tariff-free access to Russia’s vast market.
Russia accounted last year for over 35 percent of Armenia’s foreign trade, compared with the EU’s 13 percent share. It absorbed 40 percent of Armenian exports worth $8.4 billion.
Russia is also the main source of multimillion-dollar remittances sent home by Armenian migrant workers and Armenia’s principal supplier of natural gas. The price of Russian gas for the country has long been set well below international market-based levels.