Treść książki
Przejdź do opcji czytnikaPrzejdź do nawigacjiPrzejdź do informacjiPrzejdź do stopki
Armenia’sMembershipintheEurasianEconomicUnion
agreedtosupplementthetreatywithamemorandumstatingthatNagorno-
KarabakhwouldnotbeconsideredpartofArmenia.11
ItmaybenotedthatbyNovember2014theArmeniangovernmenthad
managedtoreachanagreementtokeepthecurrentimporttariffsfor752sorts
ofgoodsforatermtouptofiveyears.Quiteimportantly,thegovernment
alsomanagedtoreachanagreementthatthefreetraderegimewithGeorgia,
anon-EEUmember,wouldremaininforce.12Suchanarrangementshould
notbeunderestimatedbecauseofthesignificantbilateraltrade,andbecause
nearly70%ofArmenia’scargo,bothimportsandexports,istransportedvia
Georgia.Inthepreviousfewmonths,ArmenianandGeorgianofficialshad
beenratheroptimisticaboutthepossibilityoffindinganopportunitytokeep
thefreetraderegimebuthadalsonotedthatabandoningitwouldresultin
highertransitfees.
RussianPressureonArmenia
BeforeSargsyan’su-turninSeptember2013,Armenianandforeign
expertsalikeconsideredtheAssociationAgreementwiththeEUachance
toimprovedemocraticorderandcreateneweconomicopportunities,and
atthesametimeacknowledgedmountingRussianpressureanditspossible
negativeconsequences.AsRussianofficialshadsuggestedasignificant
gaspricerise,itwasnotedthatMoscowprobablyinfluencedYerevanby
announcinganalmost70%gaspricerisetoimpedeArmenia’sdialoguewith
theEU.13Atthesametime,DavidShahnazaryan,directoroftheYerevan-
basedthinktank,theCentreforPoliticalandLegalStudies“Concord,”also
notedinaninterviewthatthegaspricerisewasapoliticalleverageused
topreventthesigningoftheEUAssociationAgreement,andthatpressure
exertedbyRussiabydifferentmeanswouldgrow.Furthermore,hesuggested
thatmissingtheopportunitytosigntheAssociationAgreementwouldresult
indevelopmentofpracticessimilartothoseexistinginRussia,suchas
additionalpressuresontheoppositionandcivilsociety.14
11
“FM:Nagorno-KarabakhwillnotenterEEU,”BELTA,19December2014,eng.belta.by.
12
N.Hovhannissian,“ArmeniaWillHaveOneVoteintheEEUCommission,”25November
2014,www.armlur.am.
13
A.Jarosiewicz,“TheSouthernCaucasusIsTurningintoaRussianPlayground,”OSW
Analyses,CentreforEasternStudies,22May2013,www.osw.waw.pl.
14
E.Gabrielyan,“StrategicPressureoftheStrategicAlly,”Aravot,24May2013,en.aravot.am.
ThePolishQuarterlyofInternationalAffairs,2015,no.4
13
