Armenia disrupts negotiations with the EU

The head of Swedish Foreign Office is afraid that Armenia will prefer Russia to the EU.

Karl Bildt, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden, has recently said in his Twitter that Armenia refuses to hold negotiations about the agreement on free trade with the EU and chooses integration with Russia instead.

After talks with Vladimir Putin in Moscow on September Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian announced that his country will join the Russia-led Customs Union. He also said Armenia is ready to take part in the establishment of the Eurasian economic union.

"I confirmed Armenia's intention to join the Customs Union and the process of the formation of the Eurasian Union. It is a rational decision stemming from the national interests of Armenia. This decision does not constitute a refusal to continue our dialogue with European structures. We intend to continue these reforms in the future,” – reports RFE/RL his words.

"When you are part of one system of military security it is impossible and ineffective to isolate yourself from a corresponding economic space," said Sarkisian pointing to Armenia’s membership of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a Russian-led military alliance, as part of the reasoning behind his decision.

Sarkisian also vowed to continue communicating with "European structures," adding that his government remains committed to institutional reforms sought by those bodies; however, he made no mention of a planned Association Agreement with the European Union.

Putin hailed Sarkisian’s announcement, saying Yerevan's decision to join the "Eurasian integration process" will boost bilateral and mutually profitable ties between the two countries. "We will be doing our utmost to facilitate this process," he said. "I am confident that Yerevan's membership in the structures of Eurasian integration will become a powerful impulse for mutually beneficial economic cooperation."

Armenian opposition deputy Alexander Arzumanian, who is also a former foreign minister, called Sarkisian’s announcement a "totally unacceptable development." He told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that any cooperation with the Customs Union must be consistent with Armenia's path toward European integration.

Let us recall that Armenia had been poised to initiate an association and free trade agreement with the EU at a November summit in Vilnius. But EU officials have repeatedly made it clear that the agreement is "not compatible" with possible Armenian membership of the Russian-led trade bloc. Meanwhile, the prospect of such a deal has triggered growing Russian pressure on Yerevan over the past year.

Reacting to Sarkisian’s announcement, the spokesman of EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Füle Peter Stano told RFE/RL that he was "currently consulting our Armenian partners on the latest developments" and that the "potential implications" would be examined when "all the necessary details" were to hand.