In June 2011, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan made an important statement: “The rapprochement with the European Union has been one of Armenia’s basic tasks since the proclamation of independence.”
The President said this while receiving in Yerevan Miroslav Lajcak, the Managing Director for Russia, Eastern Neighborhood and the Western Balkans at European External Action Service.
About 1.5 months before this statement, Stefan Fule, European Union Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy, stated in an exclusive interview with Mediamax:
Negotiations on the EU-Armenia Association Agreement launched in July 2010. Speaking about the process, Fule said:
Negotiations of an EU-Armenia Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area will be launched as part of the already ongoing negotiations of the Association Agreement, once Armenia is ready for it.”
The Armenian side also made positive assessments. In July 2011, Armenia’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Karine Ghazinyan, said that “Armenia has made significant progress in the negotiations on the Association Agreement.”
And in the interview given to Mediamax, Armenian Ambassador to the European Union Avet Adonts explained the procedure:
The ambassador said that negotiations on Free Trade Area imply various reforms in the country’s economic policy:
“For instance, in the EU countries’ shops, a CD or DVD costs at least EUR 15-20 and not EUR 2-3 as in Armenia today. Of course, such goods can be found in the EU countries as well - not in shops but in trade fairs or other such places. Under such circumstances, the EU strives to equate or at least bring the differences between economic conditions, tax and customs regimes to the minimum.”
At the meeting with Stefan Fule in Brussels in September 2011, Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan expressed his belief that “the announcement of the start of negotiations on establishing deep and comprehensive trade is quite close.”
Fule also said that the deeper the reforms in Armenia, the more support it will get from EU, based on the “more for more” principle.
At the end of the same month, speaking at the EU Eastern Partnership Summit in Warsaw, Serzh Sargsyan said:
“The principles of differentiated approach and involvement are of considerable importance: each country needs assessments congruent to its merits and progress. Armenia is pleased to indicate the progress in negotiations on the Association Agreement with the EU. We aim to maintain and continue these progress rates and take steps towards the realization of measures necessary for starting negotiations on establishing deep and comprehensive free trade zone with the EU. We are considering the process as an extra impetus to promote the fundamental institutional and structural reforms.
We plan to start large-scale reforms in several areas at once, with the European partners’ support. We intend to implement extensive reforms consistently in accordance with the EU standards in the spheres of economy, effective management, democracy, human rights, supremacy of law and various spheres of the social life.”
The negotiations on the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area with the EU started in June 2012. On that occasion, former Minister of Trade and Economic Development of Armenia, member of RPA faction, Karen Chshmarityan, said that the successful completion of the process would allow Armenia to trade freely with the market involving 500 million people.
On October 26, 2012 the 10th plenary session of the Armenia-EU Association Agreement negotiations took place in Brussels, where the parties agreed to work on the formation of the Association Agenda.
Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister, Chief Negotiator Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, participating in the meeting of senior officials of the Eastern Partnership in Brussels on December 4, reaffirmed Armenia’s readiness to complete negotiations on the Association Agreement with the EU, including the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA), before the 2013 Vilnius summit.
Zohrab Mnatsakanyan reaffirmed this readiness also on January 31, 2013. A few days later, during the meeting between Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan and the delegation of the EU Advisory Group, head of the EU delegation to Armenia, Traian Hristea, said that after signing the Association Agreement, Armenia would assume the status of an Associated Country, which will be followed by approval of the Armenia-EU new cooperation agenda.
Tigran Sargsyan, in his turn, stressed:
In March 2013, Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan, during a meeting with EU Chief Negotiator Gunnar Wiegand, said that the negotiations on the Association Agreement were approaching the final stage.
A few days later, Serzh Sargsyan met with a number of mass media representatives and, answering the question of Shant correspondent Artyom Yerkanyan, said:
“I will tell you one thing: do not believe all those people, whether they appear in the media, at rallies, in kitchens, who say that the Russians are forcing us to become members of the Customs Union. There is no such thing. On the contrary, we can say that the members of the Customs Union still have no desire to involve anyone. I have not observed such a desire at least on our part.”
And continued:
“We do not solve a black and white issue. We do not solve the issue of either-or. We are honest in our motivations, and our motivations stem from the interests of our people, we want our country to develop and in that process use the support provided by the Customs Union, the Eurasian Union, and the European Union. We are honest in our behavior, in our activities. We don’t promise one that we will hurry to them tomorrow and then go and tell the other: no, we are coming to you.”
Speaking about the possible dates of signing the Association Agreement, the President of Armenia said:
“We are on the verge of completing the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area Agreement, and may God give us the ability to complete and sign it this year.”
In June 2013, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius said that the EU planned to initial the Association Agreement with Armenia at the Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius. In July, Zohrab Mnatsakanyan noted:
“Yerevan is confident that the Association Agreement between Armenia and the European Union will be initialed at the Eastern Partnership Summit to be held in Vilnius in November.”
A few days later, he said that Armenia-EU Association Agreement would enter into full force in 2017-2018.
The head of the European Union delegation to Armenia, Traian Hristea, was more cautious: “We hope to sign the Association Agreement with Ukraine and initial it with Armenia, Georgia and Moldova.”
On July 24, Armenia and the European Union announced the successful completion of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area negotiations.
EU High Representative Catherine Ashton and Commissioner Stefan Fule made a joint statement on completion of negotiations, welcoming the “significant achievement.”
“We are delighted to confirm the substantive completion of the negotiations on the future Association Agreement between the European Union and Armenia, including the establishment of a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area.
This is a very positive development, and we look forward to the initialing of this Association Agreement at the next Eastern Partnership Summit to be held in Vilnius on November 29, and to the subsequent signing of the Agreement as soon as the technical procedures are completed.
The Association Agreement will allow the EU and Armenia to drive forward together a programme of comprehensive modernization and reform based upon shared values, political association and economic integration. The Agreement will have a direct positive impact on daily life and will bring Armenia and all its citizens closer to the European Union,” the joint statement said.
And then happened something that put an end to the Association Agreement: on September 3, 2013, the President of Armenia left for Moscow, and as a result of the meeting with Vladimir Putin, two joint statements were signed, the second of which stated:
“As a result of the negotiations held in Moscow on September 3, 2013, President of the Republic of Armenia S. Sargsyan and President of the Russian Federation V. Putin confirmed the objective of further developing economic integration processes in the Eurasian area.
In that context, the President of the Republic of Armenia S. Sargsyan announced the decision of the Republic of Armenia to join the Customs Union and to take necessary steps toward that end, and later to participate in the formation of the Eurasian economic union.
The President of the Russian Federation V. Putin expressed his support for the aforementioned decision of the Republic of Armenia and stated readiness of the Russian side to comprehensively assist the Republic of Armenia in that process.”
The next day, Chairman of the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Elmar Brok, said that Armenian President made the decision to join the Customs Union under Russian pressure.
“We know that Armenia is under incredible pressure from Russia because of the difficult situation with Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. A small country like Armenia was blackmailed to make such a decision. I feel very sorry because it is legally not possible to be a full member both of the Customs Union and have an Association agreement and Free Trade Area Agreement with the European Union,” German MP said in an interview with Radio Free Europe.
“In the last several years I had discussions with the Armenian President and I can imagine that this pressure by Russia has played a role in that. It is very important that Nagorno-Karabakh conflict should be solved in a way that such a small country can find a solution with Azerbaijan in order to overcome the problems in the region. The European Union should take much more interest in the solution of this frozen conflict,” Elmar Brok said.
Foreign Minister of Sweden Carl Bildt was not as “caring” and wrote on Twitter: “Armenia negotiated 4 years to get Association Agreement with EU. Now Armenia’s President prefers Kremlin to Brussels.”
Chief of the Armenian President’s Staff Vigen Sargsyan told RFE/RL’s Armenian service that Armenia wanted to initial the political part of the Association Agreement with the EU within the framework of the summit on the Eastern Partnership to be held in Vilnius in November.
“Armenia’s decision to join the Customs Union does not mean an end or suspension of our political dialogue with the EU. The initialing of the Association Agreement with the EU within the framework of the summit on the Eastern Partnership to be held in Vilnius in November remains on our political agenda. Certainly we are aware of the opinion and approach that membership of the Customs Union could contradict some provisions of the agreement relating to the creation of a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area with the EU.
Armenia’s position is known. We have always said that we should try to make those provisions compatible. If that is impossible, we can take from that cooperation the most important thing that was in the European direction. Namely, our political dialogue and cooperation on common values that allows us to modernize the country, and we consider that these provisions are mainly fixed in the Association Agreement,” Vigen Sargsyan said.
Artur Baghdasaryan, Secretary of the National Security Council, defended the same thesis:
“Membership to the Customs Union will provide an opportunity to benefit economically and further strengthen our security infrastructures. This membership does not at all hinder the deepening of our cooperation with the European Union, the signing of the political association agreement.”
After the meeting with Edward Nalbandian in Brussels on September 5, Stefan Fule stated that in the light of recent events, “it is difficult to imagine the initial at Vilnius summit in November of the Association Agreement with Armenia.”
On September 12-13, an informal meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Eastern Partnership countries was scheduled in Yerevan. On the eve of the meeting, Mediamax addressed a few questions to Stefan Fule.
- Was the EU informed in advance that Armenia is considering the option of joining the Customs Union? In particular, have you discussed this possibility with the Armenian leaders during your recent visit to Yerevan?
- The EU was directly informed of the development only on 31 August. It was not part of the discussions when I last visited Yerevan in July.
- Is it possible that EU and Armenia can still initial the political part of the Association Agreement (without DCFTA) during the Vilnius Summit?
- It has been the EU’s consistent position that the political association and economic integration must go hand in hand and that they are integral parts of the Association Agreement. We cannot therefore decouple those two essential building blocks of the Agreement.
Anne Applebaum, The Washington Post opinion writer, wife of Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, wrote in her article entitled “Russia still flexes its hard power:”
“Even while the world’s attention was fixed on Russian-American diplomacy in Syria, back home the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, was pulling off a much quieter but potentially more significant diplomatic coup. After three years of intensive negotiations, Armenia, Russia’s neighbor, had been on the brink of signing an association agreement, including a comprehensive trade deal, with the European Union. But on September 3 - right in the middle of the Syria crisis - the Armenian government abruptly declared that it would drop the whole project. Rather than aligning itself with the world’s largest free-trade zone and some of the world’s most sophisticated democracies, Armenia decided to stick with Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan and opted to join the Eurasian Customs Union.
No one pretends that Armenia was attracted by Russia’s soft power. By way of explanation, President Serzh Sargsyan has said that Armenia depends on Russia for its security and that Armenia has a large diaspora living in Russia. This sounds odd: Most security alliances, NATO included, do not require their members to join a customs union, and the presence of immigrants in one country doesn’t usually affect trade policy in another. But Armenia has been made anxious in recent weeks by Russian diplomatic overtures to Azerbaijan, Armenia’s main rival, as well as by anti-immigrant rhetoric from Russian officials. The Armenians took the hint: If they signed the trade deal with Europe, Russia might sell more arms to their rival and expel the Armenians who live in Russia.”
On November 29, Armenia and European Union adopted a joint statement in Vilnius, the penultimate paragraph of which said:
“The EU and Armenia acknowledge that they have completed negotiations on a Association Agreement, including a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area, but will not proceed with its initialing due to Armenia’s new international commitments.”
It is noteworthy that in February 2014, Robert Kocharyan, the second president of Armenia, criticized his successor. In an interview published on the 2rd.am website, he specifically said:
“I don’t intentionally dwell on how Armenia’s reputation suffered at the beginning of its joining the Customs Union which puzzled our European partners. It’s already not possible to be corrected. They shouldn’t have agreed to sign Association Agreement with the EU together with GUAM states, and especially with importunate PR. It gave the process an excessive geopolitical tint. Russia’s response was quite predictable.”
In April of the same year, Serzh Sargsyan, speaking at the Eastern Partnership Summit in Prague, indirectly responded to Robert Kocharyan:
“According to us, none of the partner states should be obliged to pay a price for the decision it made conditioned by the degree of its involvement in this or that integration process. We do not want to choose among friends, rather we want to have as many friends as possible. I am convinced we have chosen a right path. Eastern Partnership is not only Association Agreement. It is only a tool. When we stated “and...and” approach we meant an opportunity of alternative and not the choice of cooperation with this or that tool. I am sure if we continue being committed to shared values, respect each other’s decisions and choice, our cooperation will proceed in a right path.”
In 2014, the Armenian side continued expressing desire to sign the “political part” of the Association Agreement, but facing the cold response from the EU, these efforts gradually waned. After several years of negotiations, in 2017, Armenia and the European Union signed the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement, which, although was an important and ambitious document, it did not carry the same political significance as the previously negotiated Association Agreement.
Ara Tadevosyan
Photos from Photolur, REUTERS and Armenia’s President’s press office were used in this chapter.
