Gediminas Kirkilas: “It’s important that Armenia remained on the European path”
Updated 2013-10-15
Deputy Speaker of the Lithuanian Parliament, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on European Affairs Gediminas Kirkilas visited Yerevan last week.Deputy Speaker of the Lithuanian Parliament, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on European Affairs Gediminas Kirkilas visited Yerevan last week. In 2004-2008, Gediminas Kirkilas was the Defense Minster and in 2006-2008 - the Prime Minster of Lithuania.The main goal of the visit was to discuss the prospects of Armenia’s European integration in the run-up to the Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius scheduled for late November. Following his visit to Yerevan, Gediminas Kirkilas gave an interview to Mediamax.- Ahead of the Summit, we visit Eastern Partnership countries. We have particularly visited Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia. As far as on the eve of the Summit Armenia made a decision to join the Customs Union, we were certainly interested in the opinion of Armenian authorities on the future process of European integration. I have met the President and the Foreign Minister of Armenia, parliament members and representatives of NGOs.The Armenian leadership thinks that association with the European Union may be combined with the membership in the Customs Union. The European Union is not of the same opinion so far. In Yerevan, we have also heard proposals that Armenia and EU sign a political declaration at the Vilnius Summit. - Eastern Partnership program doesn’t end in Vilnius anyway. But will it be still attractive given the fact that the status of program participants is going to change after it?- First of all, any partnership is always individual. As for the prospects of continuation of cooperation within Eastern Partnership with Armenia, we should understand what commitments Armenia will have following its membership in the Customs Union. We know the content of the Association Agreement with EU, which has been negotiated over the last several years. But, we don’t know anything about Armenia’s agreements with the Customs Union yet. Thus, it’s still difficult to say how our partnership with Armenia is going to develop. - Many people in Armenia and outside it believe that the decision of Armenian authorities to enter the Customs Union was conditioned by Russia’s pressure. These days Lithuania also feels such pressure. In particular, the import of dairy products from Lithuania has been banned. How do you asses this situation?- It’s not a new thing for us. Over the last 3 years Lithuania has had many problems with the import of goods to Russia. But Russia was not a WTO member then, and we hope that today, being the member of the World Trade Organization, Russia will act in line with the commitments it has undertaken.As for Armenia, your politicians did not confirm the facts about pressure. On the contrary, they said there was no pressure, and this is a matter of Armenia’s security. For our part, we’ve asked whether the accession to the Customs Union gives any additional security guarantees to Armenia in addition to existing ones.- It is not customary to give advice in terms of international relations, but in any case, what should Armenia do to continue its European path?- We should find solutions to make Armenia remain on the European path. Everybody agrees with this. The mechanism which will enable Armenia to continue moving towards Europe is not known yet. First of all, it depends on Armenia’s will.I remember the path of European integration of Baltic countries and I think that the situation for Eastern Partnership countries is much favorable today. We were the first, and nobody in EU knew what to expect from post-Soviet states. The membership of three Baltic States has encouraged Brussels and the European Union and proved that we have a potential, both economic and intellectual. You should only use the positive conjuncture. But the decision of Armenian authorities announced in early September has obviously complicated the situation.Gediminas Kirkilas was interviewed by Ara Tadevosyan. - See more at: http://www.mediamax.am/en/news/interviews/8121/#sthash.8MLGjOMi.dpuf
