President: Armenia-EU deal not much different from Association Agreement

PanARMENIAN.Net - The recently finalized Framework Agreement between Armenia and the European Union doesn’t differ much from the Association Agreement that Armenia rejected in 2013 to join the Eurasian Economic Union, president Serzh Sargsyan said in an interview with Euronews.

“Because of the good will of both sides, this agreement isn’t so different from the previous one,” he said.

“There’s no difference in the political part, and for the economic part, we had to make sure that there’s no contradiction with our commitments to the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU).”

“At the beginning of negotiations our standing was that we could have both. The Russian side has never told us that we can’t sign such an agreement. But they did say that we might pay for the energy at the world market price.”

Referring to the upcoming elections on April 2, Sargsyan said he strongly believes that the parliamentary model of government is more efficient.

“It provides better opportunities for good governance, as well as for citizens and representatives of civil society who want to participate in the running of our country.”

Asked about his absence from the electoral list of the Republican Party, Sargsyans said “that means we take into account the concerns voiced by the opposition.”

“But that also means that we are creating opportunities for young people to express themselves in politics.”