On December 11, the European Parliament gave its consent to the participation of Armenia in EU agencies and programmes, adopting the report drafted by Member of the European Parliament Tomasz Poreba on this issue, a press release read. In particular Armenia will have access to the EU world leading programs in the fields of culture, education, environment, and science. Armenian civil servants will be integrated into EU agencies such as aviation security, medicine and environment, and this on all levels.
“Participants of the Vilnius summit discussed the best way to promote and shape the EU-Armenia co-operation, while respecting Armenia complementary foreign policy and its integration into the Customs Union. Granting Armenia access to EU Agencies and Programmes, reserved to date mostly to EU member states, is a very concrete step in the right direction and will allow Armenia to reap financial and administrative benefits vital for the country’s modernisation. I think this is a more than encouraging signal from both sides to keep moving forward in concrete terms, with benefits for everyone involved,” EuFoA Secretary General Michael Kambeck said. The European Parliament report underlines that it was Armenia which requested access to the EU Programmes and Agencies, and that the EU with this initiative aims to promote the modernisation in the country.
Along the same lines of the Vilnius declaration, the report clearly states that, “it will permit the gradual opening of or reinforced participation in certain Union programmes for Armenia, offering an opportunity to promote further cultural, educational, environmental, technical and scientific links, enhancing people-to-people contacts and sectorial cooperation, in addition to the strengthening of the political and relations through the Eastern Partnership.” Armenia may, in particular, be able to join EU programmes, such as LIFE, on environment and climate action, with a €3.29 billion budget for the period 2014-2020; HORIZON 2020, on knowledge, innovation and sustainable development, with 70.2 billion euro budget for the same period; or the well-known ERASMUS PLUS, among others, as long as their statutes and objectives permit for such participation, a financial contribution is made, and a memorandum of understanding is signed by both parties.
In addition, Armenian officials will be integrated into the management of those programmes and into EU Agencies, such as the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), the European Environment Agency (EEA), the European Medicines Agency (EMA), etc, thus gaining expertise and skills of world leading agencies in their fields which can then be transferred to their national administration.
In Vilnius, the EU and Armenia, however, did not initial an Association Agreement due to “Armenia’s new international commitments”. In September, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan announced the decision to join the Russian-led Customs Union. Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius stated on 9 December that after becoming a member of the Customs Union, Armenia is not qualified to receive the EU association membership at the same time.