Armenia may benefit Euronest parliamentary assembly: MP says
YEREVAN, February 23, /ARKA/. Armenia may benefit from its participation in Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, an Armenian parliament member from the Armenian Revolutionary Federation/Dashnaktsutyun, Vahan Hovhanesian, head of the Armenian delegation to Euronest, said today at a news conference. He said this may bring benefits Armenia given that ‘we will enforce needed reforms and if the process is not an imitation because otherwise our participation will be meaningless.’
The Euronest Parliamentary Assembly is the parliamentary component of the EU proposed Eastern Partnership program. It consists of members of the European Parliament and Parliaments of Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.
Vahan Hovhanesian said Armenia should become pro-active in Euronest, having on mind that 40 seats in it are controlled by members of GUAM (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova) organization and because Azerbaijan will try to use Euronest to push to the forefront its own agenda. He said the Armenian delegation made some proposed to the constituent documents of Euronest that were accepted.
The Eastern Partnership was initiated by the European Union. Under it the European Commission has earmarked €600 million for the six partner countries for the period 2010-13 as part of the European Neighborhood and Partnership Instrument, constituting about a quarter of the total funding available to the Eastern Partnership countries in this period. The funds will be used for three main purposes: comprehensive institution building programs, aimed at supporting reforms (approximately €175 million); pilot regional development programs, aimed at addressing regional economic and social disparities (approximately €75 million); and implementation of the Eastern Partnership, focusing on democracy, governance and stability, economic integration and convergence with EU policies, energy security, and contacts between people with the aim of bringing the partners closer to the EU (approximately €350 million). -0-
