For us, European integration was a tool to ensure Armenia's security, for you, it was a tool to make Armenia a tool. RPA Vice President Armen Ashotyan wrote about this.
"Today's session of the National Assembly was distinguished by a number of records.
First of all, the government power, on the first "opportune" or rather, inopportune occasion, put an end to the illusion of benevolence in the hall of the National Assembly, which was initially falsely presented as a trap for the opposition.
Of course, education or benevolence is a necessary condition for effective political work, but the option of education that was proposed by the CP is dead from the beginning, because it is not accompanied by a nationwide approach to restoring the rule of law throughout Armenia, respecting the institution of human rights, releasing political prisoners, and ending political persecution.
It is not a widespread "amnesty", but a local "amnesia".
And it is no coincidence that today in the National Assembly, the members of the Communist Party used not political thought, but administrative levers, stopping the involvement of the opposition in the work of the sessions.
The irony of fate is that the threat of that brute force happened on the occasion of the election of the chairman of the European Integration Commission, during which the words human rights, rule of law, democracy, pluralism were heard the most.
But the second record is much more important. Serzh Sargsyan and the Republican Party do not give rest to the CP members, who, regardless of the fact that they are not physically present in the hall, continue to actually dictate the political agenda.
In the context of today's discussions, issues related to foreign policy, particularly Eurasian and European directions, became part of the agenda.
If it is really possible to "introduce" any national state, in particular Armenia, into this or that supranational political or economic structure within one day, as they assess Serzh Sargsyan's decision to join the Customs Union in 2013, then I request, urge, demand from the CP members to "introduce" Armenia to the European Union within one day.
If it is possible and they can't, it will prove once again that Serzh Sargsyan is a stronger guy than them.
If it is possible, but they do not want it, then it will be proven that they are misleading our people with the European agenda.
If it is not possible, but they talk about it, then I leave the conclusions about their literacy and ethics to you.
By the way, it is thanks to the membership of the Eurasian Union that Armenia's economy not only did not collapse, but also provided developments in recent years, and this was done by two main factors.
The first, thanks to the contract signed during the reign of Serzh Sargsyan regarding the price of Russian gas, and the second, due to the accession to the Eurasian Union, with unhindered access to the big market.
Thanks to those two decisions of Serzh Sargsyan, Armenia has benefited more than 10 billion. I ask the doubters to calculate the difference in gas prices in Armenia and international markets at least from 2018 to today, as well as the benefits received from the volumes of Armenia's exports or re-exports to Eurasian markets.
As far as the European direction is concerned, here I have to make a lickbez for the KP MPs, in whose primitive perceptions CEPA is the DCFTA version minus the association agreement.
Actually, until 2013, Armenia negotiated two documents with the European Union. Association Agreement (AA), which included political, social, legal reforms, and the DCFTA on free trade. In 2013, it was not possible to sign the package as a result of the change in the rules of the game, not by the Armenian side, but by the European side, which has been recorded and referred to many times.
However, the CEPA signed during and thanks to Serzh Sargsyan coincides with the content of those two documents by about 90-95%, and this is the assessment of European political scientists and experts.
AA – DCFTA = CEPA equation does not exist. The actual formula is (AA+DCFTA) x 0.95 = CEPA.
The most important difference is one: it is recorded in CEPA that Armenia's reforms in the economic, financial, customs and other similar fields should not contradict the commitments we undertook during our membership in other international structures.
In all other directions, these documents are identical.
It is ironic that we are being criticized by a government that has "successfully" failed and is failing the implementation of CEPA. Among the beautifully packaged political assessments and official documents, you cannot hide the fact that the reforms stipulated by that document are in place and at best correspond to about 40% of the schedule commitments (I cannot give more accurate estimates because both the Armenian and European sides hide the real progress of the reforms from the Armenian and European societies behind the toasts).
No matter how much the current regime tries to pretend that they have achieved new unprecedented successes with the European Union, I have to remind you that the basis of all the new documents signed by them with the European Union is CEPA itself, including the security ones.
To make sure, it is enough to visit the official website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and familiarize yourself with the recently signed highest-ranking document, the EU Strategic Agenda for Armenia, where it is written in black and white more than 20 times that all these obligations, actions, areas derive from "Serzhi CEPA".
Moreover, it is written in the very introduction that the document is based on CEPA, aims to achieve the end result outlined by CEPA, and CEPA is the legal basis on which the document with that squeaky name was signed.
Moreover, similar documents signed separately with a number of EU member states are also based on CEPA.
With that said, I want to make two conclusions.
First, Armenia's foreign policy under Serzh Sargsyan was derived from Armenia's security policy and served as a tool to ensure Armenia's security, and the current regime has turned foreign policy into a security threat, not an opportunity.
Secondly, if before the European integration was a tool to ensure the comprehensive security of Armenia, the current regime has turned Armenia into a tool of European and, in a broader sense, Western policy under the name of European integration.
P.S. CEPA recorded and gave binding legal force for the EU to such a version of the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh problem, where the right to self-determination of the people of Artsakh was one of the inalienable principles. This is another sad proof of your squandering "Serge's legacy"...
Armen Ashotyan
Vice President of RPA
"Dzoraghbyur" TSC
19/08/2026".
