During the Q&A period at yesterday’s “Armenia’s Strategic Challenges to Socio-Economic development” discussion that centered around the pluses and minuses of Armenia joining the Customs Union (CU) or its European Union variant, Armenian MP Khachatur Kokobelyan said that he believed the CU would restrict Armenia’s national sovereignty.

Kokobelyan argued that since a separate economic committee operated within the CU, whose decisions are obligatory for all member states, Armenian sovereignty would be restricted.

The MP states that Armenia’s possible entry into the CU has to be viewed from the perspective of three issues – sovereignty, security and prospects for development.

Kokobelyan said such a loss of sovereignty could not be justified with possible price breaks in Russian imported gas.

As for the security issue, Kokobelyan believes that the security guarantor for Armenia and Artsakh could be a a free economic market and a government with long-term plans for instituting stability and development, and not Russia or the EU. He added that presently neither Armenia nor Artsakh are capable of solving the Karabakh issue.

“The key to its resolution lies on the international level, and there must be a confluence of super power interests,” he said.

He called the government’s decision to join the Customs Union as senseless, arguing that Armenia can’t afford to pass up the development opportunities offered by the Free Trade Agreement.  

“The Customs Union simply dictates restrictions. With the Association Agreement, we are dealing with standards,” Kokobelyan said.

In a conversation with Hetq, the MP didn’t exclude the possibility that the Armenian President had been pressured into joining the CU. But he noted that no amount of pressure could justify the decision taken by the government.

Kokobelyan isn’t hopeful that Armenia will reconsider joining the CU.

“Maybe we could join with an observer status. Something that wouldn’t force CU decisions on us,” the MP noted.

While he doesn’t believe that Armenia will sign any Association Agreement with the EU come November, Kokobelyan described such an outcome not as a lost opportunity, but rather lost time, given that it will take years to guarantee that Armenia develops on the European path.