EU commissioner reaffirms Union’s support for Armenia

PanARMENIAN.Net - The EU commissioner for neighbourhood policy and enlargement negotiations has reaffirmed the Union’s support to Armenia, stressing the need for adopting differentiated policies to each of the Eastern Partnership member states, Tert.am reports.

Speaking at the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly’s fourth plenary session in Yerevan, Johannes Hahn said that the Union will continue providing assistance to the country in such important sectors as migration, security, fight against corruption, good governance, judiciary reforms. He also promised developed mobility partnership within the Visa Facilitation and Readmission Agreement and continuing support to the civil society.

“We need to work out how to work with neighbors without giving them a veto over any partner’s engagement with the European Union. We will never get the best of this policy. We should pursue the Association Agreements, but for those who cannot currently engage [in the partnership], let’s narrow the focus and build more solid foundations on essential areas such as economic development, energy, collectivity, migration, mobility and security. These are fundamentals that we can work on together to make our partnership more effective,” he said, further calling for flexible policies in circumstances requiring urgent solutions (tools for reacting crises etc).

The commissioner said that the EU expects proposals in the coming months to move forward with the activities planned. He added that the member states’ governments too, will be involved in the dialogues to express their opinions.