Democracy is not a foreign policy orientation, but a belief for Armenia – Prime Minister

Democracy is not a foreign policy orientation, but a belief for Armenia, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told reporters during today’s press conference in the government, adding that he has introduced these approaches during the meetings held in Brussels.

“The EU has stated for many years that it is holding relations with the countries of the Eastern Partnership with the formula of “more for more”. The more relates to the declared values which we all know – democracy, fight against corruption, independent judiciary and etc. Before my visit to Brussels, there was a statement that the EU is going to assist Armenia in some way. I have expressed my bewilderment that the formula proposed by the EU doesn’t work for the EU policy. I’m bewildered over the fact that several EU partners tell me during meetings that they expect changes in Armenia like previously and today as well. I am surprised that there are EU officials who do not notice the ongoing changes in Armenia”, the PM said.

In order to make the situation more simple, the PM presented a concrete example. He stated that today’s government did more in the anti-corruption fight within 2 or 1 month without spending additional sums, as compared to what has been done during the cooperation between the EU and the former government of Armenia, spending millions of Euros. The new government did more for having an independent judiciary in a week than before.

“We didn’t do anything for the sake of financial support, what we did is for implementing the mandate provided by our people. This should be clear, and we have sent out message to our partners”, Nikol Pashinyan said.