National Assembly speaker Alen Simonyan said during an interview on Public Television that Armenia will participate for the first time in the gathering of parliament speakers of the European Union (EU) countries, which will take place in Spain in mid-April.

"Armenia has been invited for the first time. And if I am not mistaken, no [other] post-Soviet country has such an invitation, even an aspirant country does not have that invitation, and the attitude in terms of work is at a very high level," said Simonyan.

When asked whether Armenia will become a candidate for EU membership, the parliament speaker said that Armenia as well as the people and democracy of the country have long passed and share the system of the European family and democracy, and the perception is such both abroad and in Armenia.

"It is obvious to me as well that for us [i.e. Armenia] it is the most correct and most desirable option that we should go with. The process is the problem; we have to know how we do that process, and it is not just by applying; we have to make many things conform to the European standards. Yes. That is the system of values we should strive and go for," said Simonyan.