Overchuk: Armenia knows that joining EU will close EEU market for it
YEREVAN, January 29. /ARKA/. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk has again warned that Armenia will pay a huge economic price if it strives to join the European Union.
'Armenia is aware that its accession to the European Union will result in its withdrawal from the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) and the closure of the EEU market for its products.' Overchuk said.
“Opening markets with the European Union will mean closing markets with the Eurasian Economic Union. Otherwise, our producers in the Eurasian Economic Union will suffer, it is obvious,” the Russian Deputy Prime Minister told journalists in Astana, Kazakhstan, TASS reported.
He specified that for Armenia “zeroing import customs rates with the EU will automatically mean a return to customs tariff with the EEU.”
“For us, of course, it is a signal that the beginning of joining the EU is the beginning of leaving the EEU,” Overchuk pointed out.
“It is absolutely obvious to any person who is even slightly familiar with how these two integration associations are organized. The Armenian side absolutely clearly knows that the consequences will be like this. No one should have any illusions here,” Overchuk said.
In his assessment, “the people who now claim in Armenia that it will be possible to find some solution are, to put it mildly, misleading the Armenian society.”
On January 9, 2024, the Armenian government approved a bill on starting the process of Armenia's accession to the EU, proposed by the Platform of Democratic Forces civic initiative.
On January 24, the Parliamentary Committee on European Integration of the National Assembly gave a positive opinion to this draft law. In all probability, it will be included in the agenda of the next session of the National Assembly, scheduled for February 11-14.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated earlier that Armenia can become a member of the EU only if the people approve this initiative in a referendum. He pointed to the need to discuss and develop a joint roadmap with the EU.
Russia accounted for about 42 percent of Armenia’s foreign trade in January-October 2024, compared with 7.3 percent for the EU’s total. Russia is also Armenia’s main supplier of natural gas and nuclear fuel. -0-
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