Armenia’s uncharted path into Europe

[Artashes]

Re: Armenia’s uncharted path into Europe

Armenian Official Plays Up New Deal With EU


Nane Sahakian

Հրապարակված է՝ 29.05.2015

The Armenian government hopes that its forthcoming new accord with the European Union will be as similar to their scrapped Association Agreement as possible, First Deputy Economy Minister Garegin Melkonian said on Friday.

“I’m saying ‘as possible’ because as well all know, we have assumed certain membership obligations to the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) which make it impossible to revive all provisions of the previously negotiated Associated Agreement,” he told reporters.

Melkonian said Armenian officials are now “sifting through” that draft agreement and “crossing out” its provisions that are not compatible with Armenia’s membership in the Russian-led EEU. Those primarily include clauses related to free trade, he said.

The official was confident that many other economic provisions can be incorporated into the deal over which the government and the executive European Commission will start official negotiations soon. They have to do with protection of competition and investments, services, government transparency, customs administration and joint “mechanisms” for economic arbitration, he said.

“We have decided, in principle, that those areas will be part of the forthcoming agreement,” added Melkonian.

Armenian and EU officials identified approximate areas to be covered by the new agreement during a “scoping exercise” that was completed in March. This led the European Commission to ask EU member states for a “mandate” to open formal talks with Yerevan. EU leaders welcomed that development during last week’s summit in Riga.

Speaking ahead of the summit, a senior EU official confirmed that the planned deal with Armenia will contain a “substantial trade and investment chapter.” But like Melkonian, the official said that it will not regulate import duties in bilateral trade because of Armenia’s membership in the Russian-led bloc.

The Association Agreement envisaged the creation of a “deep and comprehensive free trade area” between the EU and Armenia. It was all but finalized just weeks before President Serzh Sarkisian announced his unexpected decision to seek EEU membership.

http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/27043555.html

Really nice move on Hayastan's part.
By "line itemizing" the previouse in visioned EU agreement , we are able to keep this avenue accessible and reap much welcome benefits of this contact.
Really a nice quiet and subtle move that that is good for both parties and doesn't have NEGITIVE impact on EEU dynamic, or for that matter, any impact at all . Actually, any positive benifit will benifit the EEU because a stronger more efficient member strengthens the group.

[Mher]

Re: Armenia’s uncharted path into Europe

Armenian Official Plays Up New Deal With EU


Nane Sahakian

Հրապարակված է՝ 29.05.2015

The Armenian government hopes that its forthcoming new accord with the European Union will be as similar to their scrapped Association Agreement as possible, First Deputy Economy Minister Garegin Melkonian said on Friday.

“I’m saying ‘as possible’ because as well all know, we have assumed certain membership obligations to the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) which make it impossible to revive all provisions of the previously negotiated Associated Agreement,” he told reporters.

Melkonian said Armenian officials are now “sifting through” that draft agreement and “crossing out” its provisions that are not compatible with Armenia’s membership in the Russian-led EEU. Those primarily include clauses related to free trade, he said.

The official was confident that many other economic provisions can be incorporated into the deal over which the government and the executive European Commission will start official negotiations soon. They have to do with protection of competition and investments, services, government transparency, customs administration and joint “mechanisms” for economic arbitration, he said.

“We have decided, in principle, that those areas will be part of the forthcoming agreement,” added Melkonian.

Armenian and EU officials identified approximate areas to be covered by the new agreement during a “scoping exercise” that was completed in March. This led the European Commission to ask EU member states for a “mandate” to open formal talks with Yerevan. EU leaders welcomed that development during last week’s summit in Riga.

Speaking ahead of the summit, a senior EU official confirmed that the planned deal with Armenia will contain a “substantial trade and investment chapter.” But like Melkonian, the official said that it will not regulate import duties in bilateral trade because of Armenia’s membership in the Russian-led bloc.

The Association Agreement envisaged the creation of a “deep and comprehensive free trade area” between the EU and Armenia. It was all but finalized just weeks before President Serzh Sarkisian announced his unexpected decision to seek EEU membership.

http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/27043555.html

[Mher]

Re: Armenia’s uncharted path into Europe

Sarkisian To Attend EU Summit In Riga


Հրապարակված է՝ 20.05.2015

President Serzh Sarkisian on Wednesday confirmed his participation in this week’s European Union summit in Latvia’s capital Riga which could shed more light on the future of the EU’s relations with Armenia.

In a statement, Sarkisian’s office said he will also hold bilateral meetings with unnamed European leaders on the sidelines of the gathering scheduled for May 21-22.

The main focus of the summit will be on the EU’s Eastern Partnership program offering six ex-Soviet states, including Armenia, privileged partnership in return for political and economic reforms. Three of them -- Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine -- have already signed far-reaching “association agreements” with the 28-nation union in line with that program.

Armenia was on course to sign a similar agreement until Sarkisian unexpectedly decided in 2013 to join the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). The Armenian government now hopes to negotiate a less ambitious deal with the EU that would not run counter to its membership in the Russian-led bloc.

The EU’s executive European Commission on Tuesday formally asked EU member states for a “mandate” open official negotiations with Yerevan on such a deal. European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn has expressed hope that the EU leaders will give the green light to those talks at Riga.

In a speech delivered in March, Sarkisian insisted that Armenia can “combine” membership in the EEU with closer ties with Europe. He described his country as an integral part of “European civilization” when he visited Rome in April.

“We could become a bridge connecting European countries to the 170 million-strong EEU market,” the Armenian president declared.

http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/27027313.html

[Mher]

Re: Armenia’s uncharted path into Europe

EU Moves To Open Talks On New Deal With Armenia


Sargis Harutyunyan

Հրապարակված է՝ 19.05.2015

The European Union’s executive body has asked the EU member states to authorize it to open official negotiations on a new agreement to deepen political and economic ties with Armenia, a senior official in Brussels said on Tuesday.

The deal would serve as a less ambitious substitute for an EU-Armenia Association Agreement which was all but finalized almost two years ago. The Armenian government precluded its signing after unexpectedly deciding in August 2013 to join the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU).

Yerevan has since been trying to work out a different legal framework for closer ties with the EU that would not run counter to its membership in the Russian-led bloc. Earlier this year Armenian and EU officials identified concrete areas to be covered by it. The executive European Commission now needs a “mandate” from the EU’s member states for the start of official negotiations on the new accord.

According to the senior EU official, who did not want to be identified, the commission formally requested such permission on Tuesday. It remained unclear, though, whether the mandate could be issued during this week’s EU summit in Latvia’s capital Riga.

The summit slated for May 21-22 will focus on the EU’s Eastern Partnership program offering privileged partnership to six former Soviet republics. Three of them -- Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine -- have already signed association agreements with the EU.

The EU official confirmed that the planned deal with Yerevan will contain not only political but also economic provisions. “The new framework agreement with Armenia will certainly have a substantial trade and investment chapter,” he told reporters from Brussels.

“There will be certain areas which are not covered by [World Trade Organization] disciplines,” the official said. “For example, the fields of investment, procurements or some other areas where Armenia will be more free -- these are also not covered by the Eurasian Economic Union -- to provide for more market openings.”

The official stressed that unlike the scrapped Association Agreement, the planned deal will not envisage free-trade arrangements. He argued that just like the EU member states Armenia and the other ex-Soviet republics aligned in the EEU are not allowed to negotiate free-trade deals on their own.

According to Armenian government statistics, the EU remained Armenia’s leading trading partner last year, accounting for 26.6 percent of its commerce with the outside world. By comparison, the EEU’s share in Armenian foreign trade stood at 24.5 percent in 2014.

http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/27025388.html

[londontsi]

Re: Armenia’s uncharted path into Europe

Did the troika defraud billions at the expense of thousands of depositors in Cyprus?

http://www.thepressproject.net/article/73470/How-the-troika-and-Piraeus-Bank-sealed-Cypruss-fate

By Harald Schumann / Der Tagesspiegel

As an experienced politician, Nicolas Papadopoulos is accustomed to difficult times. He has been an MP and head of the Cypriot Parliamentary Finance Committee for nine years. He is also head of the socially liberal Democratic Party (DIKO) so no one can accuse him of being a political radical. But when the 41 year old tells this story, his voice breaks and his fury brings tears to his eyes. "My country," he says, "is the victim of a daylight robbery." "They stole three and a half billion euros from us and gave it to a Greek bank." "People’s life savings, the money our citizens saved for their retirement." Now many will even lose their homes. "The troika and the Eurogroup decided this, and we were forced to agree since they had a gun to our heads '. It was "one of the biggest scandals in the history of the Eurozone."

So did Eurozone Finance Ministers and officials of the European Commission, the ECB and the IMF perpetrate a billion euro robbery? It sounds absurd. But the allegation is based on facts and documents. They show that officials in Brussels and Frankfurt imposed a highly controversial agreement on the country, under the terms of which customers of the Cypriot banks lost three billion euros, which a Greek bank then received as profit. So far parliamentarians and the European courts have not dealt at all with this question, and one reason for this is that the Cypriot government does not dare to speak publicly. It is is dependent on the goodwill of the ECB and the European Commission. Now, however, hundreds of Cypriots have appealed to the European Court of Justice and the Central Bank of Cyprus intends to launch an investigation.

The road to the controversial agreement began with the economic collapse of the Republic of Cyprus in 2012. Until then, the small country of 800,000 inhabitants was one of the richest in Europe. With low taxes and flexible control mechanisms, the island had become a financial centre and tax haven. The wealthy from all over the world, though mainly from Russia, hid money from their domestic tax authorities in Cyprus, creating a strong banking sector in the country. The balance sheets of the three main banks, the Laiki Bank, the Hellenic Bank and the Bank of Cyprus, added up to eight times the country's GDP. Glossy palatial banks and hundreds of luxurious law offices in Nicosia testify to that imported wealth....

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[londontsi]

Re: Armenia’s uncharted path into Europe

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[londontsi]

Re: Armenia’s uncharted path into Europe

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[londontsi]

Re: Armenia’s uncharted path into Europe

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Democratic Europe.

Listen the Czech President at the EU Parliament.

The end is even better

[retro]

Re: Armenia’s uncharted path into Europe

Cyprus (2004) Bankrupt
Greece (1981) Bankrupt
Ireland (1973) Bankrupt
Italy (1952) Bankrupt
Portugal (1986) Bankrupt
Spain (1986) Bankrupt

The thieving banksters target nations that have corrupt political classes.

[retro]

Re: Armenia’s uncharted path into Europe

Another example is the polish immigrants. Their immigration trend started 5-6 years ago.
Now they number over 1 million.

Polish immigrants tend to be migrants and most of them return home after a few years. The has much larger non-EU immigration problems.