Thursday, September 3 2015 12:56

Armenia has experienced no positive results from its EEU membership. The failure of cooperation with the EEU was predictable, Tevan Poghosyan, MP from the opposition Heritage Party, told journalists on September 3, when commenting on the two-year cooperation between Armenia and the EEU. He said many experts warned that the EEU membership was a wrong path for Armenia. 

"Initially, speaking of the EEU advantages, the authorities pointed out the short-term and long-term benefits Armenia would receive. Now we see that all this has remained ink on paper," said Poghosyan. He pointed out that from the very beginning the project was not beneficial to Armenia, because the country voluntarily became dependent on Russia and joined the EEU on absolutely unclear terms. "It's no use speaking of the results of the political decisions, because they did not meet the interests of the country and were taken under the pressure of one person," he stressed. "All the arguments in favor of Armenia's accession to the EEU were just nice wordings," he said. 

He thinks that the current situation should become a good lesson for the future and that Armenia should return to its European integration policy to overcome the crisis.  
To note, Armenia became a full member of the EEU on Jan 2, 2015. Its share in distributed customs duties from imports to the EEU is 1.13%. By preliminary data, Armenia will receive about $250 million in 2015. The agreement takes into account the principles of sovereign equality of the parties and their territorial integrity, as well as the national interests of the EEU member states. The agreement implies freedom of movement of commodities, services, capital and workforce, implementation of coordinated or single policy in economic sectors stipulated by the given agreement and international agreements within the EEU.