Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan today met with Chairman of the European Party of Armenia Tigran Khzmalyan as part of his consultations with a number of political forces.

Nikol Pashinian - Dear Mr. Khzmalyan, I am pleased to see you. First of all, I would like to thank you for accepting my invitation. We have gone through challenging times, plus the pre-election period which came to highlight the clash of views and divergences. However, I feel that we need to think of strengthening our national potential, and this issue stands high on our domestic policy agenda in the wake of parliamentary elections.

The main task that we formulated is as follows: some of those political forces that took part in parliamentary elections went to parliament, others not, nevertheless, each political force has its own share of the electorate, which represents the point of view of a certain stratum in society. I wish to hear your opinion on the ways of building closer ties of interaction between extra-parliamentary forces and the government. I would also like to learn your views about the future course of political life in Armenia.

Tigran Khzmalyan - First of all, let me congratulate you on your victory. Thank you for finding time to host us - I do not say me, because you yourself said that the public was not fully represented in these elections. Nevertheless, thank you.

I believe that three of those many problems you are facing now are the most important, and if you allow me, I will talk about them. I mean Armenia’s sovereignty, security, and, of course, the economy. The electorate and the ideology that the European Party of Armenia represents suggest that the answer to these three questions is European integration. And we call on you since this is the second time you have been elected as a symbol, a symbol of rejection: the first time you symbolized the “rejection of Serzh,” it meant rejection of the system that had brought the country to the brink of an abyss, and to my mind this time you were elected under the logic of “rejection of Kocharian.” We are convinced that in both cases society consciously or subconsciously rejected the system that had given rise to such monsters.

Having learned from the press that you agreed or at least are discussing cooperation with extra-parliamentary forces through some kind of structure, we thought that this is a very correct step from the point of view of democracy, especially amid the current chaotic situation. On behalf of the European Party of Armenia, we offer our services to the people in terms of introducing the process of European integration in a bid to help the country overcome the crisis. As regards the risks and the threats which await us and seem to be inevitable, we are prepared to support you with the resources we have, both obvious and yet not so obvious, with all our human, intellectual and organizational potential. That is just what I wanted to tell you.

The interlocutors discussed ways of tapping the potentialities and opportunities available nationwide, as well as the prospects for further cooperation.