Armenia's European integration reaches impasse. As expected

According to Armenian media, the draft law "On the beginning of the process of the Republic of Armenia's accession to the European Union" is not an application for EU membership. This was stated by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia Paruyr Hovhannisyan during the second reading of the draft at a meeting of the Commission on European Integration of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia.

"This law is not an application for membership in the European Union. This law corresponds to the direction of closer rapprochement with the EU," the deputy minister said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not see the context of geopolitical changes in this regard.

Armen Gevorgyan, a member of the Armenia faction, expressed surprise: "It turns out that we are adopting a law, but we are not seeking membership. In that case, the question arises, why are we adopting this law?"

"We are starting the membership process, but this does not mean applying for membership. I'm just talking about it," explained Paruyr Hovhannisyan.

The Chairman of the commission, Arman Egoyan, explained that this is exactly what we are talking about. "Because when the process starts, at some stage it also means applying for membership. Not now, maybe in a year. But the law is specifically about membership, which must be preceded by a corresponding application," he said.

The discussions dragged on, and the discussion of the issue was postponed from March 4 to March 25.

As you can see, there is already friction in Armenia around the law on the beginning of EU accession. Previously, the draft had already been adopted in the first reading in early January. But a lot of things have changed in the world between the first and second readings. Membership in the European Union has lost its appeal in terms of joining a powerful team that provides peace and security. The processes that began on January 20 make the beautiful phrases contained in the preamble devoid of practical meaning. During the discussions in the first reading, the pompous preamble did not raise any questions. It should be recalled that the draft law adopted by the Armenian Parliament in the first reading, with reference to the "will of the people", announced the beginning of the process of the country's accession to the European Union. The authors of the project announced that the goal of the initiative is to "make Armenia a safe, secure, developed and prosperous country."

Today it is already quite clear that membership in one structure or another is not capable of making any country really safe and prosperous. You can have the support of the entire EU and the West as a whole and still end up in a broken trough. Moreover, it is completely unfair to be there, if we talk about Ukraine. Armenia has nothing to count on at all. She just won't have anything to cover when the ge changes again tomorrow.

The political winds from it will also require calculation. She simply has nothing for which the same States will bargain. It will simply be transferred from one pocket to another.

Over the past month and a half, it has become more than clear that Armenia will not be accepted into the EU. Just as other people on the waiting list from the former Soviet Union will not be accepted. For this, a sanction from Moscow will now be necessary again. The latter, given the current situation, will soon regain "ownership" of Armenia. Times have changed, and it is more expensive to persistently pursue a policy of so-called European integration. Many in Armenia today recall the words of Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk, who compared the Armenian bill on joining the EU to buying a ticket to the Titanic. The sober Armenian experts knew how it would end without Overchuk. Armenia will never become a full member of the EU. But he will lose a lot from breaking with the EAEU. In short, its economy will collapse by 80 percent. However, these figures are not new to official Yerevan.

In March last year, the European Parliament made a gift to Armenia by adopting a resolution proposing to consider the possibility of Armenia's membership in the European Union. In Yerevan, they pretended that they did not understand where everything was coming from, pretended that they did not see the real background of this curtsy. There, as always, they did not look a couple of steps ahead and trotted to a dead end. Which is exactly what they came up against this Monday.

It is not serious to raise the issue of joining the European Union until the situation is clarified. Therefore, the issue has been postponed until the end of the month. During these three weeks, something may become clearer, and some trends will take clearer shape. And then it will become clear how important it is to keep or delete the preamble to the draft law, which enthusiastically describes Armenia's expectations from the EU. It is possible that it will be decided not to bother with the preamble, but to postpone the project indefinitely in its entirety, to hide it away until geopolitics makes a sharp turn again.

Why does Armenia need the European Union at all? Beautiful words about prosperity, security and security are an empty phrase. For all this, the country must have the potential, political and economic resources. The question of whether Armenia has all this does not require an answer.

Now Yerevan has one task - to make things worse. And to make things worse, the cautious Pashinyan will try not to rush into European integration, but will sit quietly and see if Europe can withstand the confrontation with Trump. If it holds up, you can come out of the trench, unfurl the blue-starred flag and say that you were just providing the rear. If the United States undermines the European Union, it would be better not to mention the bill with its approval in the first reading. And the main thing is to forget about it in Moscow.

In any case, Armenia is not a country that is taken seriously, whether in Europe or the United States. They don't take it seriously in Russia either. The centers of power just need such partners, completely dependent, not self-sufficient, with a lot of problems, with shaky positions in their region. There is no doubt that the January vote in the Armenian parliament amused many in Brussels.

Pashinyan really wants his country to be perceived as an equal, but for this it must learn independence and stop looking for support under someone's armpit. Real sovereignty is not a gift attached to the Declaration of Independence. It must be suffered and earned.