Armenian MP Sargis Khndanyan has accused opposition representatives of acting against Armenia's interests during the European People's Party (EPP) congress in Valencia, Spain. Speaking in parliament, Khndanyan alleged that opposition delegates attempted to remove a resolution supporting Armenia from the agenda.

Khndanyan, chair of the Standing Committee on Foreign Relations, noted that he and MP Maria Karapetyan attended the EPP congress as part of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly delegation. He stated that the resolution in question highlighted Armenia's democratic progress, rule of law, human rights protection, deepening EU relations, CEPA implementation, economic cooperation, visa dialogue, regional relations normalization, release of prisoners, and the Crossroads of Peace initiative.

Despite the resolution's positive content, Khndanyan claimed that European colleagues were surprised to learn that Armenian opposition members sought to block it. He described this behavior as a source of "Spanish shame," referencing a term for secondhand embarrassment.

Khndanyan refrained from disclosing specific comments made by opposition figures Raffi Hovhannisyan and Hayk Mamijanyan during the closed-door discussions but labeled their actions as disgraceful. He emphasized that the resolution was ultimately adopted with near-unanimous support, facing only three abstentions.

He further alleged that opposition members lobbied European delegates to vote against the resolution, a move that proved unsuccessful. Khndanyan criticized the Republican Party, along with figures like Mamijanyan, Armen Ashotyan, and former President Serzh Sargsyan, for subsequently denouncing the resolution and claiming it was drafted by the ruling Civil Contract party.

Addressing opposition assertions that they influenced the resolution's content, Khndanyan acknowledged that they succeeded in removing a sentence expressing EPP support for Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's "Real Armenia" ideology. Additionally, they managed to include a reference mentioning Armen Ashotyan.

Khndanyan concluded by asserting that the opposition's conduct “transcends mere embarrassment, posing a threat to national security.”