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On April 27 RA NA Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan received the Vice Chair of the European People’s Party Group (EPP) of the European Parliament Jaime Mayor Oreja. Welcoming the guest the NA Speaker noted that Mr Oreja’s visit would be an additional stimulus for the rapproachment of Armenia-European Union and Armenia-European Parliament bilateral relations. Hovik Abrahamyan stressed that the direction of being integrated into European structures was one of the priorities of the foreign policy of the Republic of Armenia, and it was not accidental that Armenia was the propagator of the establishment of the Eastern Partnership and the idea of the creation of Euronest, and was the first that welcomed the idea of cooperation through this parliamentary format with the European Union. He said that at the invitation of the President of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek at the beginning of May he would leave for Brussels, where he would take part at the Euronest Founder Assembly with the speakers of the parliaments of the Eastern Partnership member states.

The NA Speaker thanked the European People’s Party functioning in the European Parliament for the unbiased position, which was displayed in connection with the reports prepared by Kilrilov, as well as by the European Neighbourhood Eastern Policy.

Hovik Abrahamyan highlighted the organization of the mutual visits and noted that at his invitation many officials of the European Parliament visited Armenia and NKR. “Taking into account the geopolitical position of Armenia, any distorted and non-balanced statement or formulation can give a reason for wrong commentaries, but cause also additional tension in the negotiation process, which in its turn, can turn into unprecedented consequences in the region,” the NA Speaker noted and added that the format of the OSCE Minsk Group was only admissible for the settlement of the Karabakh conflict.

Touching upon the EPP-RPA cooperation, the NA Speaker highlighted the deepening of the inter-party relations and noted that during his visit to Brussels in July of the last year, meeting the EPP members the issue of the Republican Party of Armenia joining the European People’s Party had been discussed.

Thanking for reception Jaime Mayor Oreja highlighted Armenia-European Union cooperation and positively assessed the NA Speaker’s steps taken in developing the relations between the Armenian Parliament and European Parliament. He considered necessary the continuity of the democratic reforms going on in Armenia. Jaime Mayor Oreja presented the features of the transition phase and the procedure of the reforms of Spain, underlining that it had a successful process due to new system of values.

In the word of the Vice-Chair of the European People’s Party Group, they highly assess how the Armenian people maintain and spread the European values in the region.

Mr Oreja said that in the mid-May the visit of the President of the European Parliament to Armenia was scheduled.

At the meeting other issues regarding the regional developments and bilateral interest were discussed.