Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan Called Moldova the Closest Country to Joining the Eurasian Union

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Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that the state closest to joining the Eurasian Economic Union is Moldova. However, the situation, he said, may change after the elections to the country’s parliament scheduled for February 24. Pashinyan said this during a visit on January 25 to the headquarters of the Eurasian Economic Commission in Moscow, reports eurasia.expert. The visit was associated with the fact that Armenia took over the chairmanship in the Eurasian Economic Union. “At the moment there are no specific negotiations on the accession of new members to the Eurasian Economic Union, but last year Moldova received observer status in the EAEU, which means that Moldova can be considered the closest country to membership in the Eurasian Economic Union”, - Pashinyan said during a press briefing at the headquarters of the EEC, answering the question of the journalist from Le Monde. The newly elected Prime Minister of Armenia also reminded that parliamentary elections will be held in Moldova in February, therefore “after these elections it will become clear how relations will develop between the Eurasian Union and Moldova”. Moldova received observer status in the EAEU on May 14, 2018 by decision of the Eurasian Economic Council. Such initiative was put forward by President Igor Dodon, who was seeking observer status in the EAEU for Moldova for over a year. The ruling Democratic Party and Parliament denies this status. As stated earlier in this regard, Parliament Speaker Andrian Candu, international treaties signed without the approval of Parliament and the government, are “zero”. “Under these conditions, it turns out that Igor Dodon and the Socialist Party assumed the status of an observer, and not the Republic of Moldova. Our country has a cooperation agreement with the European Union, and the European vector is the only possible development of the country that gives chances for progress,” Candu said. That is why, he added, the Democrats began the procedure for introducing a clause on European integration into the country’s Constitution. Newsmaker