Azerbaijan's actions should be assessed by more realistic and not balancing statements

On Spetember 27, the President of National Assembly Standing Committee on Foreign Relations Artak Zakaryan and the President of National Assembly Standing Committee on European Integration Naira Zohrabyan met European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Füle’s delegation.
Welcoming the guests, Artak Zakaryan said that the RA- EU relations agenda is quite full, and Armenia's parliament also actively participates in the cooperative works within the frames of its functions. "Within the frames of both Eastern Partnership and the New Neighbourhood program, we are interested in European integration, particularly in the issues of easing the association agreement, in-depth and comprehensive free trade area, visa facilitation and readmission," said the president.
The parties also discussed the issue of implementation of business plans by the European Union and its institutions with RNK civil society organizations, particularly taking into account their educational, social, cultural and other needs.
The President of Standing Committee on Foreign Relations highlighted the involvement of Armenian parliament in «CIB» program, which will be an additional support to the development of NA capacity.
Speaking about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Artak Zakaryan said that the EU should make its attitude towards the conflicting parties, in this case towards Azerbaijan, more selective by its statements. It’s been mentioned, that Azerbaijan's actions should be assessed by more realistic and not balancing statements. According to the Chairman of the committee, each balancing statement gives Azerbaijan the chance to avoid responsibility and continue its actions, which are destructive and violate the regional security.
Speaking of regional issues, the President of National Assembly Standing Committee on European Integration mentioned, that in many cases the double standards applied by the European side are the reason that today Azeri authorities contempt European values. As an example Naira Zohrabyan mentioned the 2nd plenary session of Euronest held in Baku, where in response to Azeri President’s fascist speech, the European component, in fact, didn’t react seriously.
He noted with regret that recently he, as an MP working in international agencies, observes, that the European institutions themselves retreat from their values, and Azerbaijan succeeds in changing atmosphere in prestigious European agencies by its "caviar" diplomacy and oil-dollars.
The parties referred to the reform process in Armenia and the steps taken towards that.
Stefan Füle highlighted the fact that Armenia is very active on its way of reforms. According to him Armenia participates in the European integration process with a progressive pace, and the reforms already have tangible results. The EU Commissioner assessed the association agreement negotiations process as quite promising. He believes, that within the frames of Eastern partnership and the New neighbourhood policy, Armenia’s reform policy is quite a success and is regularly awarded by the appraisal of EU agencies.