Former MP Armen Ashotyan has posted a Facebook status about the parliamentary hearings on the activities for implementation of the EU-Armenia Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement.

“Today, the National Assembly held parliamentary hearings devoted to the activities for implementation of the EU-Armenia Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement.

Of course, parliamentary oversight is a key tool for effective implementation of the Agreement and serves as an opportunity to ensure proper involvement of the civil society in this process, but the hearings held today were simply another decorative event. They weren’t specific, and there was no vision for the future. The hall was half-empty after the ceremonial part of the event. While I understand why the ambassadors of the EU member states left, the absence of the MPs shows that they don’t treat these hearings seriously.

Some speakers went ahead and talked about the former authorities in their speeches. Let me remind that the wise decision that the Armenian authorities made in the context of the geopolitical developments in 2013 helped keep Armenia and Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh Republic) away from geopolitical turbulence. If you would like to know what could have happened, take a look at the example of Ukraine.

If the MPs are against Armenia’s accession to the Eurasian Economic Union deep down inside, they should express themselves.

It’s ridiculous when the MPs criticize the former Armenian authorities for not signing the Associated Agreement and then praise the EU-Armenia Agreement that the former authorities developed and the Agreement that was signed thanks to the former authorities.

If you truly believe Armenia isn’t satisfied with the Eurasian Economic Union, then make a statement that you have greater ambitions to move towards Europe and want the Associated Agreement. Will you do it?

Other issues:

1. There was no subject-oriented report on which actions for 2019 weren’t implemented on time (in accordance with the roadmap for implementation of the Agreement) and why.

2. None of the current high-ranking officials touched upon the major issue regarding statements on the Artsakh issue in the EU-Azerbaijan Agreement that is being drafted and about which I recently talked about.

3. Nobody touched upon the objectives to strengthen Armenia’s position in the new Eastern Partnership 2020+ Strategy, especially when the associated trio is being marked more and Armenia is almost ignored during the preliminary discussions in the EU.”