On two chairs: how Armenia tries to stay in two integrations at once.
Nikol Pashinyan is preparing for a busy December: three visits to Russia, three sites, one big task - to maintain the economic advantages of the EAEU, without abandoning the course of rapprochement with the European Union.
It sounds like an ideal plan, if you don't take into account that the EAEU is about common rules and a single market. You cannot at the same time reduce the debts for the EU and stay in the Union with its tariffs and regulations. EAEU partners understand this well. Hence the report of a possible suspension of the contract: the union wants clarity. And Yerevan, it seems, wants to buy time.
The balance between two vectors is always a risk. If you don't decide on priorities, sooner or later you will have to rebuild the economy dramatically. And this structural change will almost certainly affect the standard of living.
The three December meetings are not just a schedule of visits. It is an attempt to maintain a fragile balance that is becoming more and more unstable.
Duty Officer for Transcaucasia.