Deputy Foreign Minister Paruyr Hovannisian again stressed that the one-sentence bill, denounced by the Armenian opposition as reckless, does not constitute a formal EU membership bid.
“Nevertheless, it expresses the aspiration of Armenia’s citizens wishing to take partnership with the European Union to a new level and is consistent with our balanced and balancing foreign policy,” he told lawmakers during the final parliament debate on the issue.
Hovannisian did not clarify what concrete steps the Armenian government is planning to take next.
The bill formally endorsed by the government in early January was drafted by several pro-Western 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 came amid an unprecedented rift with Moscow.
Virtually all of the 64 parliament deputies who voted for the bill are members of Pashinian’s Civil Contract party. Their parliamentary leader, Hayk Konjorian, said Armenia is thus trying to “diversify its policies and strengthen its security.”
Opposition lawmakers continued to criticize the bill and warned of its severe consequences of the Armenian economy heavily dependent on Russia’s vast market, cheap energy resources and capital inflows. They also argued that Armenia has no chance of being admitted to the EU in the foreseeable future.
“This is not a law, this is a mockery of a law,” charged Gegham Manukian of the main opposition Hayastan alliance that boycotted the vote.
Russia did not immediately react to its final passage. Moscow warned earlier that the launch of the EU accession process will mark the “beginning of Armenia's withdrawal from the Eurasian Economic Union,” a trade bloc that gives the South Caucasus nation a tariff-free access to the Russian market.
Sergei Shoigu, the secretary of Russia’s Security Council, said last week that Moscow would retaliate by not only imposing hefty tariffs on Armenian products but also deporting scores of Armenian migrant workers. Armenia will lose at least one-third of its Gross Domestic Product as a result, he warned.
According to Armenian government data, Russia accounted for over 41 percent of Armenia’s foreign trade last year, compared with the EU’s 7.7 percent share. Armenia also buys the bulk of its natural gas from Russia at a price that is set well below international market-based levels.