EUROPEAN UNION HAILS POLITICAL DIALOGUE WITH ARMENIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
May 19, 2010 – 18:20 AMT 13:20 GMT

There was good political dialogue with the Armenian government in
2009, according to the European Commission’s Progress Report Armenia
on implementation of the European Neighborhood Policy in 2009.

It says that "Armenia widely aligned itself with cooperation on foreign
and security policy (CFSP) declarations and is generally very active
in cooperating on CFSP-related issues."

Besides, a regular EU-Armenian Human Rights Dialogue was launched in
December 2009.

The report goes on saying that "Armenia took a major step in regional
cooperation and dialogue with Turkey, resulting in the historic
signature of the two protocols on the establishment and development
of bilateral relations."

"The Armenian authorities and civil society representatives
participated actively in the multilateral framework of the Eastern
Partnership, in particular through open dialogue and their contribution
to the working programs for the four thematic platforms."

The report also refers to Armenia’s steps "taken to address the
internal political crisis following the aftermath of the Presidential
elections in February 2008, including the Amnesty issued in June,
the amendments to the Criminal Code and the publication of the report
by the Parliamentary Ad Hoc Inquiry Committee."

However, the report goes on saying that "the monitoring of trials
related to the March 2008 events identified various shortcomings."

According to the report, "further reforms in the justice sector and
the area of the rule of law will be of key importance."

"Good progress was made regarding improving the legislative framework
in the area of anticorruption," the report reads, adding that "despite
good legislative progress, no reduction of perceived corruption was
reported by international surveys in 2009, demonstrating the need
for effective enforcement in this area."

As for EU-Armenia cooperation, the report says: "The EU and Armenia
agreed to move forward with deepening and broadening of the EU-Armenia
relations. In parallel and within the Eastern Partnership framework
the EU started preparations for upgrading contractual relations
with Armenia. Negotiating directives for an Association Agreement
were adopted by the EU in May 2010. In the framework of the future
Association Agreement, negotiations on a deep and comprehensive free
trade area (DCFTA) will start once the necessary conditions have
been met."