Yerevan /Mediamax/. European Union doesn’t consider signing of political component of Association Agreement with Armenia.

Mediamax requested Maja Kocijancic, Spokesperson for EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton, to comment on the statement made by Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan according to which the EU’s decision to sign the political component of Association Agreement with Ukraine opens “window of opportunities” for Armenia.

In reply, Maja Kocijancic suggested getting acquainted with the statement adopted last week following EU-Ukraine Summit which particularly reads:

“The European Union, its Member States and Ukraine will sign the political provisions of the Association Agreement. The European Union and its Member States are committed to sign the remainder of the Association Agreement and Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area, which together with the political provisions constitute a single instrument”.

In September 2013, European Commissioner Stefan Fule said in his interview to Mediamax that “we can’t decouple the Association Agreement”.

“It has been the EU's consistent position that the political association and economic integration must go hand in hand and that they are integral parts of the Association Agreement. We cannot therefore decouple those two essential building blocks of the Agreement”, Fule said then.

EU-Armenia Association Agreement including Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area was supposed to be initialed at Eastern Partnership Vilnius Summit in November 2013. After the Armenian President’s decision to join the Customs Union stated on September 3, 2013, the EU stated Association Agreement couldn’t be initialed. A joint statement of Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and  High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton was signed at the Vilnius Summit.