EUROPEAN INTEGRATION PANEL HOLDS FIRST MEETING
By Astghik Bedevian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
June 25 2007
A newly formed parliament committee tasked with promoting Armenia’s
integration into European structures held its first meeting on Monday
that focused on organizational and technical issues.
The standing committee was formed by the recently elected National
Assembly in line with Armenian leaders’ pledges to bolster the
country’s links with the European Union and fully meet their
commitments to the Council of Europe.
The parliament elected Avet Adonts of the pro-presidential Prosperous
Armenia Party (BHK) as its chairman earlier this month. The 13 other
members of the panel represent all five parties that won parliament
seats in the May 12 elections.
Adonts, who headed the foreign relations department at President Robert
Kocharian’s staff before the elections, said after the first meeting
that the committee has to hire experts and solve other logistical
issues before drawing up a plan of actions. He said its chief priority
is to harmonize Armenia’s laws with those adopted by EU countries.
Speaking to RFE/RL, Adonts admitted that laws alone will not bring
Armenia closer to Europe. "Public opinion in Armenia is not quite
prepared for European integration," he said. "Many think that it is
being imposed on us. We have to explain, we have to work actively
with non-governmental organizations."
Adonts, who was a career diplomat before joining the presidential
administration and has the ambassador’s rank, also said his committee
will establish direct contacts with the European Parliament and the
Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), in which Armenia
holds several seats.
The PACE was scheduled to discuss later on Monday the Armenian
authorities’ handling of last month’s elections. Members of the
Strasbourg-based assembly monitored them along with representatives
of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the
European Parliament. In a preliminary report, they described the
vote as largely democratic. The Armenian opposition, including the
Zharangutyun and Orinats Yerkir parties that won parliament seats,
strongly disagreed with this conclusion.
The Armenian parliament was due to send a new multi-party delegation
to Strasbourg. However, parliament speaker Tigran Torosian failed
to form the delegation, citing a lack of time. He told reporters on
Friday that Armenia will be represented at the ongoing PACE session
by two pro-government lawmakers who were part of a PACE delegation
formed by the previous parliament.
The decision was condemned on Monday by Zharangutyun leader Raffi
Hovannisian. In a letter to Torosian, he demanded that a Zharangutyun
deputy, presumably Hovannisian himself, be also "immediately"
dispatched to Strasbourg. There was no immediate reaction from
Torosian.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
