Armenian opposition lawmaker continued to criticize the bill as reckless and warned of its severe consequences of the domestic economy heavily dependent on Russia’s vast market, cheap energy resources and capital inflows.
The bill formally endorsed by the Armenian government on January 9 was drafted by several pro-Western political and civic groups largely loyal to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian. They collected last year 60,000 signatures in support of their demands for a referendum on joining the EU.
Pashinian has said that the referendum should be held only after Yerevan and the EU work out a “roadmap” to Armenia’s accession to the bloc. No EU member state has officially voiced support for such a prospect so far. Nor has the EU’s executive body, the European Commission, welcomed Yerevan’s initiative that comes amid a deepening rift between Armenia and Russia.
“I would like to emphasize that the adoption of the bill in itself does not constitute an application for Armenia's membership in the European Union,” Deputy Foreign Minister Paruyr Hovannisian said during a two-day parliament debate on the issue.
Hovannisian told lawmakers that the bill is only designed to send a “clear message to the European side about moving our partnership to a qualitatively new stage.”
“Are they waiting for us in the European Union?” scoffed Agnesa Khamoyan of the main opposition Hayastan alliance. “You can wish, you can wish for anything, you can even bring a bill so that manna from heaven falls on our heads.”
Another Hayastan lawmaker, Artsvik Minasian, said that Pashinian’s “unconstitutional” move will expose Armenia to “new blows.” Minasian and his colleagues pointed to the country’s heavy economic dependence on Russia which has deepened further in recent years.
According to Armenian government data, Russia accounted for over 41 percent of Armenia’s foreign trade in January-November 2024, compared with the EU’s 7.5 percent share. Armenian exporters enjoy tariff-free access to the Russian market thanks to the South Caucasus nation’s membership in the Eurasian Economic (EEU), a Russian-led trade bloc.
Russia is also Armenia’s principal supplier of natural gas and nuclear fuel. Armenia pays the Gazprom giant $165 per thousand cubic meters of Russian gas used by not only power plants and households but also the vast majority of car owners in the country. Wholesale gas prices in the EU are currently over three times higher than that.
Russia has warned that the launch of the EU accession process will mark the “beginning of Armenia's withdrawal from the EEU.” That exit, according to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk, would push up the cost of Russian natural gas and food imported by Armenia and cause a sharp decline in Armenian exports. Armenian officials have responded by emphasizing that Yerevan has no plans yet to leave the EEU.
Arman Yeghoyan, the pro-government chairman of the Armenian parliament committee on European integration, noted during the debate that Armenia “can no longer be a member of the EEU” only if it signs a free trade deal with the EU. Yeghoyan seemed to imply that Moscow cannot kick it out of the EEU until then. He said nothing about the Russian arsenal of other punitive measures that could seriously hurt the Armenian economy.
Moscow’s reaction to the passage of the EU bill was rather cautious, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying that it is still not clear whether the Europeans are ready to admit Armenia. He also argued that accession to the EU is a lengthy process that can take decades.
“In the meantime, we proceed from the fact that Armenia continues to receive its dividends from membership in the EEU and Eurasian economic integration processes,” the TASS news agency quoted Peskov as saying. “These dividends are more than obvious.”
