Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian again criticized the European Union on Friday for not increasing its financial assistance to Armenia following mass protests that brought him to power more than two months ago.
Pashinian said that the EU should reward the new Armenian government for aggressively combatting corruption and launching major reforms.“I am surprised that there are still officials in the EU who do not notice changes that have occurred in Armenia,” he told a news conference.
Pashinian first voiced such complaints after holding talks with the two top EU officials, European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, in Brussels on July 12.
The head of the EU Delegation in Armenia, Piotr Switalski, countered on Monday that his government needs to propose specific reform-oriented projects requiring EU funding before demanding greater aid from the bloc. Pashinian’s press secretary, Arman Yeghoyan, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) the following day that the government is now working on such projects and will present them soon.
Pashinian said nothing about those aid proposals when he answered a journalist’s question about Switalski’s comments. “We have done nothing and will do nothing for the sake of financial assistance,” he said instead. “What we are doing is aimed at fulfilling the mandate of our people given to us, and I want to make this very clear.”
The 43-year-old premier also stood by his earlier criticism of the EU. “For many years, the EU said that it does business with Eastern Partnership countries under the so-called ‘more for more’ formula and on the basis of values known to all of us: democracy, independent judiciary, transparency, rule of law, fight against corruption,” he said. “And before my visit to Brussels there was a statement from the EU to the effect that the EU is going to somehow support Armenia.
“In that context, I expressed my bewilderment [in Brussels] at the fact that the formula put forward by the EU is not working in the EU policy. I am bewildered by the fact that some of our EU partners … said at their meetings with me that they expect changes in Armenia as they did before.”
“In order to set the record straight, I gave concrete examples,” Pashinian went on. “I said that the current government did more, without spending a penny, to combat corruption in one month than what happened during cooperation between the EU and Armenia’s government at a cost of tens of millions of euros [in EU funding.] I said that my government did more for having an independent judicial system in Armenia in one week or even day than what was done as a result of cooperation between the EU and Armenia’s former government costing tens of millions of euros.”
The remarks came the day after a senior European Commission official, Katarina Mathernova, arrived in Yerevan on a two-day visit which the EU Delegation described as a “follow-up” to Pashinian’s talks with Juncker.
Switalski said on Monday that Mathernova will discuss with Armenian leaders their “expectations and needs.” “This must be a very concrete discussion,” the diplomat stressed, adding that the Armenian side should come up with “projects, timelines, budgets and so on.”
The EU pledged last year to provide up to 160 million euros ($185 million) in fresh aid to Armenia over the next three years in line with the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) signed with the previous authorities in Yerevan.
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