YEREVAN. – Critics of current EU-Armenia relations need to realise that many of the positive effects that would come out of a further alignment are not quantifiable straight away and often will not fit traditional understandings of a static, long-term national interest, political analyst Gunter Walzenbach believes.

Further project-based cooperation is useful as stakeholders in Brussels and Yerevan share the same positive outlook, says Walzenbach, senior lecturer at the University of the West of England.

“First of all, there is some mutual gain involved in simply continuing on the basis of what has been agreed upon before. Existing blueprints have already articulated quite well how in the case of Armenia the partnership template could facilitate a transition to a democracy, create a market economy and overall sustain cooperation along common value orientations. Secondly, a widespread acceptance of the ‘good governance’ agenda within the Armenian government highlights the variety of forms that cooperation can take in the real world,” he said, answering to an e-mail inquiry by Armenian News-NEWS.am.

The political analyst believes that maintenance of interactions with the EU does not always require formal agreements but can alternatively rely on domestic standard setting, best practices and bilateral arrangements.

“Thirdly, both partners will need to communicate more clearly than in the past what goals and objectives they aim to achieve through their coordinated actions”.