Pashinian pointed to the government’s endorsement on January 9 of a bill calling for the “start of a process of Armenia's accession to the European Union” when he spoke during the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
“There is a very high probability that our parliament will adopt that law,” he said. “It would mean legally that we start the process of getting more and more close to the European Union.”
Moscow was quick to deplore Yerevan’s planned EU membership bid, with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk calling it “the beginning of Armenia's withdrawal” from the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). Overchuk warned that the South Caucasus nation risks losing its tariff-free access to Russia’s vast market and having to pay much more for Russian natural gas and foodstuffs.
Pashinian telephoned Russian President Vladimir Putin late last week to discuss his plans. Putin made “corresponding comments” in response to his explanations, the Kremlin reported without elaborating.
The issue was also understood to be on the agenda of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s talks with his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan held in Moscow on Tuesday. Lavrov pointedly declined to comment on it at a joint the news conference after the talks described by him as “frank” and “very useful.”
Pashinian did not say at Davos when the Armenian parliament will debate the bill in question. Parliament speaker Alens Simonian likewise said nothing about that on Thursday during a panel discussion in Yerevan with his visiting counterparts and other senior lawmakers from several Baltic and northern European countries.
Pashinian said that he wants his country to eventually join the EU because “we are a democracy.” He did not comment on the economic cost of that foreign policy change criticized by the Armenian opposition. Opposition leaders say that Armenia has a near-zero chance of being ever admitted to the EU and that Pashinian is using the issue to try to boost his flagging popularity.
The EU’s share in Armenia’s foreign trade has fallen significantly since Pashinian came to power in 2018. According to Armenian government data, it stood at 7.5 percent in January-November 2024, sharply down from 24.3 percent in 2017. By contrast, Russia’s share rose from 26.7 percent to 41 percent in the same period. Russian-Armenian trade has skyrocketed since 2022.