Many Armenians believe the country’s future lies with EU membership - survey reveals

Photo: Gevorg Ghazaryan, JAMnews

The majority of the population in Armenia are positive about the intensification of ties with the EU, Stepan Grigoryan, the Head of the Analytical Center on Globalization and Regional Cooperation (ACGRC) stated when presenting the results of a public survey which was conducted by the organization.

According to the survey findings, 88.6% of respondents felt favorably about Armenia’s efforts to intensify ties with the EU.

Moreover, the majority of the respondents believed that the country’s future lies with EU membership. According to the survey data, 40% of the population believe that having close ties with Russia obstruct Armenia’s relations with the European Union, while 29% of respondents think that ties with Russia only partially hamper the country’s relationship with the EU.

When commenting on the public survey, Armen Ashotyan, the Vice Chairman of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) stated that he respected Stepan Grigoryan and his center. However, he believes that although there are plenty of public opinion surveys in the country, the validity of their results largely depends on data collection and processing methods. “Most of the citizens understand ‘European integration’ differently than you [the ACGRC] do,” said Armen Ashotyan.

The survey was conducted in Yerevan, Gyumri, Vanadzor, Vayk, Yeghegnadzro, Martuni and other communities, from 1 June through to 1 September 2017. A total of 900 respondents were interviewed as part of the survey, and over half of them were women (496).