Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told the country’s lawmakers on Monday that Armenia would begin preparing to apply for EU membership, in a historic geopolitical shift for a country formerly in Russia’s orbit and for the South Caucasus as a whole.
In a speech to parliament and the nation, Pashinyan said Armenia would decide its future through a referendum only after formally applying to join the EU, with a timeframe he described as “in the near future”.
In a calculated set of political moves, the Armenian premier said his government would wait for Brussels' answer to its application, then discuss the roadmap for EU accession negotiations, and only then put EU membership to a national referendum.
Currently a member of the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), Armenia was given an ultimatum a few months ago from alliance members to choose between continuing its membership or taking its own path toward the EU through a national referendum.
At the time, Pashinyan said it was premature to make such a decision, in the midst of a massive Russian onslaught of economic restrictions on the former Soviet state for daring to move out of its influence, with Russian president Vladimir Putin threatening Yerevan directly with a “Ukrainian scenario,” as EU and CSTO membership would be incompatible in the Kremlin’s view.
