Yerevan /Mediamax/. Special Representative of the European Union in the South Caucasus Peter Semneby stated in an exclusive interview to Mediamax that the economic crisis plays a great role in the “thinking of all the at least the political part of Armenian society”.

Peter Semneby visited Yerevan last week, where he held meeting with the representatives of authorities and the opposition. Following the results of the visit, he gave an interview to Mediamax.

“The risks that the economic crisis involves in terms of also social issues, and perhaps also the risk that it involves in terms of the social issues then carry over into the political field. This is all happening, unfortunately, against the background of the political polarization that still continues a year after the events of the 1st of March, 2008. This is perhaps in many ways the most problematic aspect that Armenian society has not really come to terms with itself after these difficult events”, EU Special Representative stated.

Commenting on the statement of Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsian concerning the fact that Armenia hopes to receive EU’s support in overcoming the consequences of the global crisis, Peter Semneby noted that “the financial institutions that are linked to the European Union, the European Investment Bank, for example, could possibly provide financing for important projects”. 

“It’s also a matter of refocusing existing assistance”, he noted.

Peter Semneby stated in an interview to Mediamax that in the nearest months EU Advisory Mission will start its work in Yerevan. The agreement to set up the Mission was reached last year.

“This is a resource actually. These advisors are not there in order to be prescriptive. They are in order to be at the disposal of the Armenian authorities, in order to share their experiences, European practices, and give inputs whenever the authorities will find as useful in the preparation of policies, initiatives and so on. These will be senior level people with extensive experience from their respective fields that will be extremely useful if the Armenian authorities decide to use them in the way that we envisaged. We believe, this will contribute to bringing Armenian policies closer to European practices, to bring the way of thinking in various government institutions closer to European practices and, thereby, to build a stronger link, a stronger bond between Armenia and EU”, EU Special Representative in the South Caucasus stated.