16:30 - 12.02.2025

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February 12, Fineko/abc.az. The Armenian parliament has adopted in the first reading a draft law on the beginning of the process of the republic's accession to the European Union.

ABC.AZ reports that 63 MPs voted for the initiative, 7 against.

"63 MPs voted for the bill's adoption, and the decision has been made," parliament’s speaker Alen Simonyan said.

The opposition factions "Armenia" of the second president (from 1998 to 2008) Robert Kocharyan and "I have the Honor" of the third president (from 2008 to 2018) Serzh Sargsyan called this bill a farce and refused to participate in the vote. According to the opposition, this bill aims not to join the EU, but to choose Turkey as the guarantor of security.

Earlier, Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan noted that this would not mean the automatic launch of the process of Yerevan's accession to the community, since this issue requires a referendum. In turn, Finance Minister Ararat Mirzoyan explained that the bill was a public initiative that had gathered the necessary number of signatures.