As we have published earlier, Yerevan has wanted to leave the CSTO for a long time. Even the Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, has recently announced that he will apply for membership in the European Union no later than autumn.
But in this regard how do Europeans and the EU evaluate or rate this possibility?
European experts shared their opinion on this matter with Ednews:
Director of the Institute for Danube Region and Central Europe (IDM) and fellow of the Global Europe Center at the GLOBSEC Policy Institute in Bratislava Sebastian Schäffer:
As I have written in a Policy Paper back in 2009 when the Eastern Partnership was started in 2009: all six countries should at least be given the membership perspective. Similar to the promise given to the Western Balkan countries in Thessaloniki. This promise is of legal drinking age in the US, as it was given 21 years ago and we are still waiting for six countries to join the EU. Having said all this: Armenia is of course not ready to join the EU shortly. But we should welcome a possible application for membership from Yerevan.
On the one hand, we cannot offer Georgia candidate status and then exclude Armenia. That would undermine the credibility in Brussels. But more importantly: It would also signal to Moscow that European integration - the freedom to choose - and its values are still attractive despite all violent and hybrid methods to destroy them from the Kremlin.
British political scientist Neil Watson:
"The EU and Armenia already have a close relationship in terms of trade, and I believe that EU membership will be welcomed by many EU members, particularly France, who already regard it as their outpost in the South Caucasus. The only issue is that some EU nations - particularly those formerly on the other side of the Iron Curtain - may regard this as a provocation against Russia and as formally creating another front with Russia. As the impact of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict has been huge, they may thus view Armenian EU membership with some trepidation."
German political scientist Brendan Fraser:
"However, Armenia's attempts to join the EU are understandable. They want to protect themselves if he leaves the CSTO. But what is interesting is that we hear different thoughts from members of the ruling class. Some of them emphasize that they will stay in CSMT, while others emphasize that they are no longer there. In this case, political dilemmas arise in the ruling sphere. Therefore, the process cannot last so long. However, the issue that should be emphasized is that if we consider Georgia's candidacy status, we can expect such offers to Armenia and even Azerbaijan. Many leading countries in Europe indeed pursue a policy axis completely against Azerbaijan, and normally we do not see the EU making an offer to join the Alliance. Because normally the third world countries do not provide any sound security from the economic sphere, so they avoid it. Although all three countries, mainly, Azerbaijan can contribute to the Union quite a lot. But in the end, if we look at the result and the reality, bordering with Russia and all 3 South Caucasus countries not fully complying with the principles of the EU greatly reduce these possibilities. "Armenia should look at the reality and make transition to peaceful conditions with Azerbaijan the main priority."
Akbar Novruz
