The one-sentence bill declares the “start of a process of Armenia's accession to the European Union.” The National Assembly controlled by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s party approved it despite stern warnings from Russia.
Government officials have emphasized that the law does not amount to an EU membership bid. They have still not clarified what concrete steps stemming from it Pashinian’s government is planning to take next.
Deputy Foreign Minister Mnatsakan Safarian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that no such steps have been taken so far.
The law in question was drafted by several pro-Western groups loyal to Pashinian. They collected last year 60,000 signatures in support of their demands for a referendum on joining the EU. Pashinian said in January that the referendum should be held only after Armenian and EU officials work out a “roadmap” to Armenia’s accession to the bloc.
Asked whether Yerevan and Brussels have already held such discussions, Safarian said: “I don’t know, another minister coordinates this work.”
No EU member state has officially voiced support for Armenia’s membership in the 27-nation bloc so far. Nor has the EU’s executive body, the European Commission, welcomed Yerevan’s initiative. The EU’s Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos commented cautiously on the issue last week.
“We haven’t got the [membership] application yet, but then we will see,” Kos told RFE/RL.
Russia has warned that the launch of the EU accession process will mark the “beginning of Armenia's withdrawal from the Eurasian Economic Union,” a trade bloc that gives the South Caucasus nation a tariff-free access to the Russian market.
Sergei Shoigu, the secretary of Russia’s Security Council, said in March that Moscow would retaliate by not only imposing hefty tariffs on Armenian products but also deporting scores of Armenian migrant workers. Armenia will lose at least one-third of its Gross Domestic Product as a result, he said.