64% OF SURVEYED FROM VARIOUS REGIONS OF ARMENIA SUPPORT ARMENIA’S JOINING EUROPEAN UNION
YEREVAN, December 21 (Noyan Tapan). Of the 2,000 people surveyed
in various regions of Armenia, 64% are in favor of the country’s
joining the European Union, the overwhelming majority of them being
convinced that it will take Armenia about 15 years. These are the
results of the survey conducted by the Armenian Center for National and
International Studies (ACNIS). A surevey of 100 experts was conducted
in parallel with this. 92 of the 100 experts were in favor of the
country’s unconditional joining the EU. This data was presented at
the December 21 final seminar-discussion at the ACNIS. According to
Stepan Safarian, an ACNIS expert, the social-economic aspect was the
most attractive aspect of joining the EU for the participants of the
public survey and most of them had hopes of improving their social
position after Armenia’s becomimg a member of this organization, while
the most decisive aspect in the experts’ choice was their aspiration
for an irrevocable establishment of democratic values. The expert
paid attention to a considerable difference in the outcomes of the
public survey and the expert survey with respect to the issue how
much Russia is interested in Armenia’s joining the EU. Thus 50.6%
of the population believes that Russia will contribute to the RA
joining the EU, whereas only 14% of the experts take this view. 60%
of the experts believe that the RF will hinder Arm enia from joining
the EU. The percentage of those with a negative attitude to the US in
this issue is not big: only 16.2% of the participants of the public
survey and 5% of the experts believe that the US will hinder Armenia
from joining the EU. The majority of the experts hold the view that the
US is interested in Armenia’s becoming member of this largest political
and economic union. Among the main foreign political questions that
respondents were asked was the question about their attitude to the
issue of sending Armenian troops to Iraq. According to the survey
results, 67% of the experts and 70.5% of the population were opposed
to this measure. The seminar was attended by represntatives of various
political forces, NGOs, as well as by scientists.