In the next half year we should get close to signing Armenia-EU framework agreement: Frank Engel

Serzh Sargsyan, President of Armenia, and Donald Tusk, President of European Council, on February 27 in Brussels announced on ending talks around Armenia-EU negotiations, which will be followed by signing and ratification of already developed framework agreement. “168 Hours” interviewed MEP Frank Engel (Luxemburg, EPP), who implemented observation mission during the referendum in Artsakh and was declared as internationally wanted by Azerbaijan.

Mr. Engel, recently Armenia and the European Union (EU) ended talks around developing a framework agreement, which lasted for about a year. What do you think has the crisis of 3 September 2013 been overcome in Armenia-EU relations? Has trust been restored toward the Armenian side?

I think that crisis is over, the sides decided to recover trust to decide to forward again. This is now being done. I think we wouldn’t have this negotiated agreement and finalized negotiations on this new agreement if there was no trust between the parties. I believe that the trust exists and we now want to move forward together and to the maximum understand what is possible. Of course, it was not exactly the same agreement as it would have been without Armenia’s entry to the Customs Union that is now affected, it’s being taken into account, and I’m really hopeful the developments will be positive.

Based on some information Armenia-EU future agreement has political and economic components. To your mind, to which extent will Armenia be able to implement the package of reforms on account of incompatibility of systems of values of the EU and EEU?

It was also the choice of Armenia itself. At some point It’ll have to make up its mind about its own economic structures and anyway, you may not know, but I’ll tell you I have always been skeptical about generalized economic takeover in remain in Armenia by Russia. I’ve always had the assumption that this isn’t an approach that Armenia should have, but, at the same time, of course, there have been relatively few others that showed the same interest as always. Russia has been a strong player in this field. Now it’s important that we take the instruments that are available to that we possibly have, that we possibly have. In some areas of economy it’s logical to me that the Eurasian Union is also systemically close to what Armenia can currently provide and in some others we have to try and become an attractive force and the whole services of economy in Armenia are going to be probably effective by European operating logics and European trends as I certainly know that service operators in Armenia want that to be their logic as well and that’s going to be beneficial too, provided that we make use of the text, now it’s a matter of using things.

There are concerns in Armenia that maybe this time again signature of the agreement will be under threat, like in 2013. What do you think of these threats?

I think Moscow got what it wanted. Firstly, Armenia is a member of the Customs Union, the basis of Russia in Armenia is deployed, which is beneficial to Russia to have safe presence in Armenia. We negotiated this new agreement as EU, knowing that this is a Russian stance and Russia knew that negotiations were going on, so under that circumstance and I do not now expect Russia interfere is most relatively certain, such as it would not be acceptable to other side. Armenia should also try to improve its structural ties with the EU, it is something that Moscow need not fear.

 After Sargsyan-Tusk meeting information is being circulated that the parties may sign the agreement in May. In your opinion when will the EU be ready to sign the agreement, as we see that the Armenian party is interested to sign it in a short-term perspective?

That is not something that I can make a relevant statement because it’s a matter of finalizing the text in a legally meaningful language in all languages concerned and that means that technical work, which is going to be done, will take some time. I gather, that it’s the intention of both sides to move ahead fast because it also doesn’t make sense to leave the things trilling around now for years. I understand that in the next half year also we should get close to signing.

Which steps are you going to take to provide your security against Azerbaijan, as its authorities declared you as internationally wanted? What’s your assessment to this decision?

This decision is ridiculous, but it’s in full conformity with the nature of the state of Azerbaijan. It’s a dictatorship which functions merely according to the wins and wills of one family and this can also mean that they completely disregard any sort of international legal standard, while operating isolation of Artsakh. In our previous visits we based on voting resolutions of European Parliament, which demand unimpeded access for the EU representatives to Artsakh and we’ll continue to do that. Otherwise we’re now pondering the options contrary to Azerbaijan with a reply, not necessarily in a hurry, but when it comes, they should prepare something for relatively harsh.

By Araks Martirosyan