Gagik Tsarukian’s Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) will vote for the parliamentary ratification of Armenia’s accession treaty with the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union, a senior BHK lawmaker said on Wednesday.
Mikael Melkumian made this clear as he chaired a meeting of an Armenian parliament committee on economic affairs that discussed the treaty signed by President Serzh Sarkisian last month. He and most other members of the committee decided to recommend its ratification by the full National Assembly.
Melkumian confirmed that the BHK faction, the second largest in the parliament, will vote for the ratification next week. “Do you think that I, a member of the BHK’s parliamentary faction and governing body, am only expressing my personal view? Of course not,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am). “How can my vote differ from the BHK vote?” he added.
The BHK has until now avoided formulating a clear position on Armenia’s accession to the bloc comprising Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. Few observers doubted its positive attitude joining to joining the EEU. Tsarukian has always supported close Russian-Armenian ties.
Also supporting membership in the EEU are two other opposition parties represented in the parliament: the Armenian National Congress and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation. Only one parliamentary force, the opposition Zharangutyun (Heritage), is expected to vote against the treaty.