Open news feed Close news feed
A A

Green light for Armenia Gradually Going Off

Politics
15171152_943399519099901_7211064863413805537_n

On July 16-21 the second meeting of the “Eastern Partnership Young Journalists Network” organized by Konrad-Adenauer foundation Belarus officewas held in Berlin. The first meeting was held in Vilnius earlier in 2016. The network aims to merge young journalists from the Eastern Partnership countries and Russia. The training provides the participants with theoretical and practical input on the European Union and the Eastern Neighbors policy, as well as arms them with important modern journalism tools.Throughout the training, the participants had the opportunity to listen to and interview prominent speakers currently or formerly involved in German political system, as well as familiar with the Eastern Neighbors program and the developments of the relations of the Eastern Partnership countries with the European Union. 19148971_1886225548285764_1508043728723301158_n During the first day of the initiative, the representatives of Armenia (GayaneVardanyan), Belarus (MaksimMakhankou), Georgia (AleksandreGvindadze), Moldova (Christian Vlas) and Russia (EgorLapshov) also met with young German politicians at the Academy of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and held presentations about the current political situation in their countries, specifically talking about the moods of the society towards EU. During the next several days the young journalists from the participating countries cooperated with high ranking practitioners from German media and politics. They were given the opportunity to interview the speakers on their very diverse and specific fields of interest concerningboth the current German policy and its reflection on the Eastern Partnership countries. The participants were quite ready for the dialogue, as earlier, during the first meeting in the frames of the network, in Vilnius they had already met with speakers such as Mr. RenaldasVaisbrodas – the foreign affairs adviser of the president on Lithuania; Mr. VytisJurkonis, who is the project director at the Freedom House and leads its Vilnius office, Mr. GediminasKirkilas – a Lithuanian politician who was the Prime Minister of Lithuania from 2006 to 2008, Mr. ArnoldasPranckevicius – the Head of the European Commission Representation in Vilnius. 19225265_1832005470161894_1457542304106408068_n This time in Berlin the speakers involved Dr. Michael Kolkmann from Martin Luther University, whogave an introductory speech on German political system and the upcoming parliamentary elections of 2017, Dr. Hans-Gert Pottering – the former president of the European Parliament, Stefan Evers – the Secretary General of CDU Berlin, Eva Majevski – the Managing Director of the Young Group in the Bundestag, Astrid Zeiberth from the German Marshall Fund and several others. As for the only participant from Armenia, the picture I observed,especially if compared to that during the first meeting in Vilnius, gives serious reasons for contemplating. Some progress was hoped for, especially after the depressive statement made by RenaldasVaisbrodas in Vilnius - “Eastern Partnership is dead, because EU has bigger plans.” But the results were disappointing. During the first meeting in Vilnius, the politicians and specialists kept talking about each of the Eastern Neighboring countries as a potential stage of further cooperation and about deepening the relations with the EU. They mentioned specific fields that had to be developed in order to achieve success and take a step closer to EU. About “homework”,we have to do, as Mr. VytisJurkonis had said. This time however, the moods were a little bit darker for Armenia. “I regret that you decided you join Putin with his Eurasian Economic Union ”, said Dr. Hans-Gert Pottering – the former president of the European Parliament. Afterwards, in the end of the meeting, he mentioned – “We hope on the future development of our relations with your countries – with Georgia, Moldova, and Belarus”. Nothing was said about Armenia. Nor about Russia as well. On the very same day, coincidently, the speech of PiotrSwitalski, the EU ambassador in Armenia, was published, where he had stated: “If our endorsement is no longer desirable, we won’t force our presence.” It seems like Europe gradually starts getting disappointed with our actions. Probably we do not do the “homework” properly. There was a sense of desperation, as if they still really want to help Armenia to choose the right way out, but are no longer sure whether we ourselves want it or not. After clearly indicating our pro-Russian polarization, this development of the events is unfortunately quite natural after all. What we can really hope for is seeing more vivid colors for Armenia during our next meeting in October, in the frames of the network. But it all depends on our government and the decisions that will be made. Obviously, European Union can’t obligate us to choose a better future for our country. Gayane Vardanyan