The European Union intends to increase its financial and technical assistance to Armenia, a senior EU official said on Wednesday.
“We have increased and will increase our support to Armenia because we see a [government] will to move in the direction supported by us,” Luc Devigne, a deputy managing director at the European External Action Service, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service in Yerevan.
Devigne noted that the EU is currently implementing 250 million euros ($283 million) worth of projects in Armenia. “We also have loans for 1 billion euros in Armenia. We will do more,” he said without specifying future aid volumes.
After meeting with top EU officials in Brussels in July, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian criticized the 28-nation bloc for not boosting its assistance to Armenia following mass protests that brought him to power. The head of the EU Delegation in Yerevan, Piotr Switalski, countered at the time that Pashinian’s government needs to propose specific reform-oriented projects before demanding greater aid.
“We have seen a number of what we believe are positive actions taken by the government,” Devigne said, singling out its efforts to combat corruption in Armenia. The anti-graft drive bodes well for greater EU investments in the Armenian economy, he added.
The EU official spoke after co-chairing, together with Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Karen Nazarian, the first session of the EU-Armenia Partnership Committee. The body was set up recently in line with the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) signed by Brussels and Yerevan in November last year.
“At the meeting, the EU reiterated its support for the Armenian government's reform process,” read a statement released by the committee late on Tuesday. The Armenian side, for its part, pledged to ensure that the December 9 parliamentary elections in the country are “genuinely free and fair,” according to the statement.
“We are confident that on December 9 the parliamentary elections will take place in good order,” Devigne said in this regard.
Earlier this month, the EU and three of its member states -- Britain, Germany and Sweden -- allocated 2.9 million euros in aid aimed at facilitating the proper conduct of the snap polls.
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