Tuesday

30th May 2023

Opinion

Armenia's 'Velvet Revolution': A contribution to the Eastern Partnership

  • Zohrab Mnatsakanyan (r) at the European Commission in Brussels (Photo: ec.europa.eu)

The 10th anniversary of the EU's Eastern Partnership programme offers an opportunity to assess both the success to date and the prospects ahead for greater bilateral and multilateral cooperation in Europe.

As an ambitious effort of EU engagement with its neighbouring states to the east, the first decade of the Eastern Partnership has been receiving different views and perceptions among both its partners and the EU member states themselves.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

Nevertheless, the Eastern Partnership has also been marked by a notable degree of progress in developing and deepening relations between the European Union and six Eastern partner countries.

It has also been evolving as an effective multilateral platform to encourage and promote the benefits of regional cooperation amongst the partner countries with different paths and different levels of engagement with the EU.

Armenia stands out as a particularly significant success for the Eastern Partnership, for three reasons.

First, based on the EU policy of "differentiation," Armenia's unique position as a country committed to seeking greater flexibility and diversity of cooperation frameworks was recognised and rewarded, as evident in our successful signing of the Armenia-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA).

Signed in November 2017 and ratified by the Armenian parliament in April 2018, the Armenia-EU CEPA represents an alternative avenue for attaining an enhanced and strategically reinforced partnership between Armenia and the EU beyond the Association Agreement format.

Moreover, the CEPA offers a promising framework for the development and deepening of relations, European support for Armenian political and economic reforms, and strengthening Armenia's contribution to regional security and stability.

A second important achievement for the Eastern Partnership was its appreciation of the shared values between Europe and Armenia, based on both our common civilisational heritage and our mutual aspirations for lasting democracy, freedom, dialogue, and diplomacy.

But it is the third specific Armenian contribution to the success of the Eastern Partnership that is the most recent and most promising development.

This contribution stems from the success of Armenia's "Velvet Revolution" last year, which as an important victory for peaceful change, stands out as an affirmation of European values and ideals.

From our perspective, the non-violent approach to political change in Armenia was the only way to ensure a transition towards genuine democracy, accountability, and good governance.

Committed to restoring the primacy and priority of the individual Armenian citizen, we were able to embark on a new chapter in our political history that is defined by public service and by pursuing national interest over self-interest, where the reforms now underway have become irreversible and irrevocable.

Armenia seeks to strengthen our relationship with Europe, based on mutual respect and recognition of interests and security concerns, acceptance of our own responsibilities of democratic governance and accountability.

European assistance

It also expects European assistance in empowering our reforms and sustainable development, promoting people-to-people contacts, including visa-free travel and cultural, educational and scientific exchanges designed to leverage the synergy of our own active and educated youth as our "agents of change."

The greater challenge before the Eastern Partnership is to entrench its potential and capacity as a platform for extending broader regional cohesion, cooperation and stability, while resisting geopolitical rivalries and confrontation.

Dialogue and cooperation remain the engine and the only choice for peaceful resolution of conflicts, for the sustainability of peace and stability in Europe.

Therefore, looking back at the decade of the Eastern partnership, it is clear that like any ten-year old, this is a still growing, still developing project, where the promise and potential to consolidate our bilateral agenda with the EU remain well within reach.

And as we in Armenia continue on our path toward deeper democracy, equitable economic development and peaceful conflict resolution, we stress the importance of continued European support and collective effort to amplifying the benefits of cooperation.

In order to further institutionalise our development and our democracy, Armenia needs to work with the EU in broadening the capacities of the Eastern Partnership for securing the sustainability of democratic institutions, the protection of human rights and sustainable development.

Devaluing the priorities of protection and respect for human rights, promoting democracy and the rule of law throughout the Eastern Partnership space will undermine and inflict irreparable damage to its concept and to value based relationship.

We also seek greater security from the Eastern Partnership in the key areas of connectivity.

In this regard, the EU can play a pivotal role in creating and crafting new opportunities for more inclusive transport and energy projects with, and among, partners, as part of a more positive agenda of regional connectivity.

Expectations

Armenia also expects more from the EU and the Eastern Partnership in pursuing a comprehensive approach to security, including the necessity for a values-based policy of engagement in support of peace, security and stability in our region.

For example, the sustained support to the essential right of self-determination for the people of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) and to the peaceful resolution of the conflict within the internationally mandated format of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship are a test to the consistency of our partners in supporting genuine peace in our region and sensitivity to existential security concerns of our people.

These principles and positions are reaffirmed in the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership agreement between Armenia and the European Union.

As an opportunity to hail the success and herald the sustained promise of the Eastern Partnership at its tenth anniversary, Armenia remains committed to contributing to a further success over the next ten years as well, a commitment only emboldened by our own one-year anniversary of Armenia's Velvet Revolution.

Author bio

Zohrab Mnatsakanyan is the Armenian foreign minister.

Disclaimer

The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author's, not those of EUobserver.

Feature

Armenia-Azerbaijan war: line of contact

"Frontline coffee is the best coffee in the world", an Armenian soldier told EUobserver, with morale a key asset in the conflict.

Cohesion funds alone won't fix EU 'brain drain'

Internal movement will cause a radical reshuffling of the EU population by 2060 unless trends moderate. Under current conditions, dramatic population reductions await Romania (-30 percent), Croatia (-30 percent), and Lithuania (-38 percent) among others.

Eastern Partnership must now improve media freedoms

The EU can hardly criticise Eastern Partnership countries for disrespecting media freedom. Five EU member states, including current presidency Croatia, came below Armenia and Georgia in the 2019 RSF Press Freedom Index. Bulgaria ranked nine places behind Ukraine.

The EU needs to foster tech — not just regulate it

The EU's ambition to be a digital superpower stands in stark contrast to the US — but the bigger problem is that it remains far better at regulation than innovation, despite decades of hand-wringing over Europe's technology gap.

EU export credits insure decades of fossil-fuel in Mozambique

European governments are phasing out fossil fuels at home, but continuing their financial support for fossil mega-projects abroad. This is despite the EU agreeing last year to decarbonise export credits — insurance on risky non-EU projects provided with public money.

Latest News

  1. Germany unsure if Orbán fit to be 'EU president'
  2. EU Parliament chief given report on MEP abuse 30 weeks before sanction
  3. EU clashes over protection of workers exposed to asbestos
  4. EU to blacklist nine Russians over jailing of dissident
  5. Russia-Ukraine relations the Year After the war
  6. Why creating a new legal class of 'climate refugees' is a bad idea
  7. Equatorial Guinea: a 'tough nut' for the EU
  8. New EU ethics body and Moldova conference This WEEK

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. International Sustainable Finance CentreJoin CEE Sustainable Finance Summit, 15 – 19 May 2023, high-level event for finance & business
  2. ICLEISeven actionable measures to make food procurement in Europe more sustainable
  3. World BankWorld Bank Report Highlights Role of Human Development for a Successful Green Transition in Europe
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic summit to step up the fight against food loss and waste
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersThink-tank: Strengthen co-operation around tech giants’ influence in the Nordics
  6. EFBWWEFBWW calls for the EC to stop exploitation in subcontracting chains

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. InformaConnecting Expert Industry-Leaders, Top Suppliers, and Inquiring Buyers all in one space - visit Battery Show Europe.
  2. EFBWWEFBWW and FIEC do not agree to any exemptions to mandatory prior notifications in construction
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic and Baltic ways to prevent gender-based violence
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Economic gender equality now! Nordic ways to close the pension gap
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Pushing back the push-back - Nordic solutions to online gender-based violence
  6. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: The Nordics are ready to push for gender equality

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us