Deputy Foreign Minister Paruyr Hovannisian said talks on the agreement are nearing conclusion. But he did not reveal its key details.
“This is a paper which would amend the existing legal framework and deepen our relations,” he told Armenian and EU lawmakers holding in Yerevan a regular session of their joint Parliamentary Partnership Committee.
The main element of that framework is the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) signed by Brussels and Yerevan in 2017. The two sides announced plans to negotiate a more ambitious “partnership agenda” a year ago amid Armenia’s deepening rift with Russia. EU officials made clear at the time that it will not offer the South Caucasus nation the prospect of an eventual membership in the 27-nation bloc.
Earlier this month, the Armenian parliament approved a government-backed bill calling for the “start of a process of Armenia's accession to the European Union.” Hovannisian reiterated that the bill criticized by Moscow does not constitute an EU membership bid.
There was no word on such a bid in the official readout of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s meeting with European members of the parliamentary panel held on Monday. Pashinian’s press office also said nothing about it in a statement on his talks with European Council President Antonio Costa held in Munich on February 14.
It thus remains unclear whether Pashinian’s administration is now planning follow up the bill in question which Armenian opposition leaders say could have severe consequences for the domestic economy heavily dependent on Russia’s vast market, cheap energy resources and capital inflows.
According to Armenian government data, the EU accounted for only 7.5 percent of Armenia’s foreign trade in January-November 2024, compared with Russia’s 41 percent share.
“I want to stress that that the EU-Armenia relations have never been stronger and closer,” Vassilis Maragos, head of the EU Delegation in Yerevan, told the committee meeting. They are “grounded in shared democratic values,” he said.