European Union stands by Armenia in new reports
This week, the European Union published two reports which are relevant for Armenia. According to these, the overall state of Armenia’s relations with Europe is better than it has ever been before and looks set to improve further. European Friends of Armenia welcomes the widely supportive nature of the reports and provides a summary of the most relevant points, including one point currently critically debated in Armenian media:
The latter point was also welcomed by the comprehensive ENP report of the European Commission, published on 18 May 2010. It notes that Armenia made progress in many areas of the ENP Action Plan, launched a regular human rights dialogue with the EU, improved the legislative framework in the area of anti-corruption and strengthened the role of the Human Rights Defender. The Commission also welcomes positive steps to address the internal political crisis following the aftermath of the Presidential elections in February 2008, including the Amnesty issued in June 2009, the amendments to the Criminal Code and the publication of the report by the Parliamentary Ad Hoc Inquiry Committee. Besides, the EU adopted on 10 May 2010 the negotiating directives for a future Association Agreement with which EU-Armenia relations will reach a new level. Finally, the Commission welcomes that Armenia widely aligned itself with the EU’s Common Foreign Security Policy (CFSP) declarations (108 out of 138 in 2009, Georgia: 97, Azerbaijan: 56) and is generally very active in cooperating on CFSP-related issues.
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