N. Zohrabian on ‘dangers’ of entry into CU and Association Agreement

The secretary of Prosperous Armenia party (BHK) faction Naira Zohrabian spoke in the parliament today about the ‘dangers’ of Armenia’s entry into the Customs Union and the Association Agreement with the European Union.

The parliamentary deputy said that since September 3, opinions have been expressed that the Association Agreement with the EU contained provisions that could result in the loss of Armenia’s sovereignty and also posed danger to the Karabakh conflict.

“Opinions were expressed that the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area Agreement is not advantageous to Armenia since our goods are not competitive in the foreign market,” she noted.

According to N. Zohrabian, she is not familiar with the Association Agreement, but as an Armenian citizen, she would like to ask the authorities why they conducted four-year negotiations with a structure, the integration with which could result in the loss of sovereignty.

“A question arises: if Russia didn’t invite us to the Customs Union and if the Association Agreement was initialed in Vilnius, would it mean that we signed a document contradicting our state interests? These are questions to which no answers were given so far. Now a goal has been set to sign a paper – I don’t want to call it a document – in Vilnius on November 29 in order to prove the ‘and-and’ policy and it is unimportant what will be written there: “A Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year”… That paper will be signed, while any answers to the questions will not be given,” the BHK deputy said.

In response, the vice speaker of the Armenian parliament Hermine Naghdalian assured her that a paper or document contradicting Armenia’s interests cannot be signed in any place.