Pashinian told the European Parliament on Tuesday that “Armenia is ready to get closer to the EU as much as the EU finds it possible.” He also took aim at Russia, underscoring a deepening rift between Moscow and Yerevan.
Deputy Foreign Minister Paruyr Hovannisian downplayed the geopolitical implications of Pashinian’s speech, saying that the premier only reaffirmed Armenia’s commitment to the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with the EU signed in 2017.
“Our relations with the EU have always been aimed at promoting reforms, human rights, the country’s transformation,” Hovannisian told journalists.
“The EU remains Armenia’s most important partner in terms of reforms, and this message only reaffirmed our policy of deepening and expanding our relations with the EU as much as possible,” he said. “There is no sensational news in the context of our relations with the EU.”
Arman Yeghoyan, the chairman of the Armenian parliament committee on European integration, similarly said that the CEPA will continue to form the basis of Yerevan’s relationship with the 27-nation bloc in the coming years.
“We still have room for developing the scale and quality of our relations with the EU within the existing legal framework,” Yeghoyan told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
In his speech, Pashinian did not indicate a desire to seek Armenia’s eventual membership in the EU or negotiate another alternative to the CEPA. He made clear last week that he has no plans to pull his country out of the Russian-led defense and trade blocs. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov publicly noted that.
Still, Pashinian launched thinly veiled attacks on Russia when he addressed the EU legislature in Strasbourg. In particular, he accused Armenia’s “security allies” of using the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict to try to topple him. This prompted a stern rebuke from Moscow on Wednesday.
Armen Rustamian, an Armenian opposition parliamentarian, deplored what he described as Pashinian’s conflicting foreign policy statements and lack of a cohesive foreign policy strategy.
“One day he sounds pro-Russian, the other day pro-Western … This way we will only lose all our friends,” claimed Rustamian.