The National Assembly controlled by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s Civil Contract party had ignored those warnings, passing the bill in the first reading on February 12. The parliament committee on European integration was due to give the mandatory green light for its adoption in the second and final reading.
However, the committee chairman, Arman Yeghoyan, delayed the vote, citing three last-minute amendments to the one-article draft law proposed by the Armenian government. The most important of those amendments would remove a short preamble to the bill saying that it is aimed at turning Armenia into a “secure, developed and prosperous country.”
Yeghoyan attributed the delay to “technical” reasons and said the final debate on the parliament floor should take place before the end of this month. He dismissed journalists’ suggestions that Pashinian and his political team are having second thoughts about the measure due to the latest geopolitical developments in the outside world.
Russia has warned that Yerevan’s efforts to join the EU would strip Armenia of its tariff-free access to the Russian market and sharply push up the cost of Russian natural gas supplied to the South Caucasus nation. The Armenian opposition has likewise described them as reckless and warned of their severe consequences for the domestic economy.
Opposition leaders say the bill declaring the “start of a process of Armenia's accession to the European Union” is all the more ill-timed given the EU’s deepening rift with the U.S. administration of President Donald Trump over the conflict in Ukraine. No EU member has voiced support for the prospect of Armenia’s membership in the 27-nation bloc.
“This law does not constitute an EU membership bid,” Deputy Foreign Minister Paruyr Hovannisian reiterated during Monday’s session of the parliament committee.
“So why are we passing this law?” asked Armen Gevorgian, a parliament deputy from the opposition Hayastan alliance.
“We are starting a membership process but that does not mean submitting a membership application,” replied Hovannisian.
Yeghoyan said, for his part, that Yerevan could make a membership bid “in a year.”