The Board of Inter- Parliamentary Committee held a meeting in Yerevan

On October 30 and 31, the Armenian Parliament hosted a session of the Inter-Parliamentary Committee EU-Armenia. This was a first meeting since the course of Armenian foreign policy has changed. This new course was announced by the Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan on September 3, 2013 when he claimed that Armenia will strive to enter the Customs Union, which was founded by Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus. This decision was published after discussions with the President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. However, membership in the Customs Union is not compatible with a free trade agreement which has been negotiated between the European Union and Armenia over the last three and a half years. The President Sargsyan announced this change without consulting it neither with the Government nor with the Parliament. This act has naturally aroused a great indignation among the opposition and citizens.

Milan Cabrnoch has initiated a series of meetings with a Minister of Foreign Affairs Edward Nalbandian who was defending the President's decision and trying to explain that it could not have been such a surprise since Armenia has been cooperating with Russia for a long period of time. That is true, in spring Armenia signed an agreement with Russia on location of Russian troops on its territory until the year 2044. But this act was considered as a necessity otherwise if the country not get any support from the Russian army, within a few days Armenia would loose the area of Nagorno-Karabakh, which was conquered in a war with Azerbaijan in the early 90s of the 20th century.

The meetings were followed by an official lunch with the Ambassador of the EU in Armenia Traian Hristea and later on by a meeting with the Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan (not a relative of the president, same names are only a coincidence) who defended a new foreign policy by a statement that we need to diversify foreign relations as well as to ensure a security of the country which has closed borders with Azerbaijan and Turkey. Milan Cabrnoch had an opportunity to meet in the Parliament the Chairman Hovik Abrahamyan who supported arguments of the Prime Minister as well as of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. He was also negotiating the form of a joint statement with the head of the EU-Armenia Inter-Parliamentary Committee.

In the evening Milan Cabrnoch had an official meeting with the President Serzh Sargsyan who explained that joining the Customs Union and maintaining cooperation with the European Union is the best choice Armenia can make. The first meeting day was concluded by a dinner which was attended by members of the EU-Armenia Inter-Parliamentary Committee. The European Parliament delegation was unfortunately represented solely by its chairman Milan Cabrnoch, as other MEPs did not manage to reschedule their agendas for this important business trip.

On Thursday October 31 Milan Cabrnoch met several representatives of Armenian NGOs. As presumed, they criticised the change in the Armenian foreign policy and considered such change as unconstitutional. Particularly they have emphasised the fact that these changes have not been approved by the Parliament.

Later on followed meetings in the Parliament with several representatives of all political parties represented in the Parliament. The representatives of the opposition strongly criticised not only president's decision but also the fact that he took such decision without any discussion it in the Parliament. It should be also noted that until today the Armenian Parliament does not have any document stating the country's accession to the Customs Union. At the end of the meeting was held a press conference where Milan Cabrnoch and Samvel Farmanyan presented their joint statement, which could be found also attached.

All Armenian representatives clearly declared their willingness to continue in cooperation with the European Union, particularly in the area of sector reforms. Milan Cabrnoch has repeatedly emphasised a need to find a new way for cooperation since the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement is currently outdated and the cooperation between Armenia and the European Union has gone forward since its sign-off in the year 1999.
In the near future it will be very interesting to follow the results of the Summit in Vilnius which will be held on November 28 and 29. This summit should also bring forward discussions on further forms of cooperation between Armenia and the European Union.