On October 22nd, at the Congress Hotel Picasso Hall, The Open Society Foundations – Armenia presented the 2013 findings of the European Integration Index for Eastern Partnership Countries. A project of the Renaissance Foundation Ukraine, the goal of the European Integration Index is to measure and compare the pace and progress of European integration reforms for the Eastern partnership countries, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova & Ukraine, through civil society oversight.
The full report can be downloaded here.
The event began with opening remarks from representatives of the EU Delegation to Armenia and the RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs, along with OSF-Armenia Executive Director, Larisa Minasyan and Yerevan Press Club Director, Boris Navasardyan. Joining them was Olga Kvashuk of the Renaissance Foundation Ukraine, who presented a short overview of the European Integration Index initiative and provided a context for presenting country and sector specific index results. Ihor Kohut from the Ukrainian-based Laboratory of Legislative Initiatives, presented the index findings for Ukraine, followed by Boris Navasardayn, who presented Armenia’s index results. Afterwards, a sectoral presentation of Armenia’s index included presentations from David Tumanyan of the Communities Finance Officers Association, who spoke about the quality of public administration, and Arevhat Grigoryan of the Yerevan Press club, who presented the state of democratic institutions. The presentations concluded by analyzing the European integration trajectories, comparing Armenia and Ukraine, and included Stepan Grigorian of the Analytical Center on Globalization and Regional Cooperation, and Ihor Kohut. A public discussion followed the presentations, which invited the participation of civil society and the public at large.
The 2013 findings for the European Integration Index is the third such report. Launched shortly after the Eastern Partnership program, there was initially great hope that the index would provide a valuable tool for European and national policy makers for evaluating their European integration progress, and create an atmosphere of competition among Eastern partnership countries for properly fulfilling their reforms obligations. In reality, the index has produced disappointing results, when measured against the results of the intended reforms. As the recent events surrounding Armenia’s sudden U-Turn towards the Customs Union have demonstrated, however, despite satisfactory index scores in many key reform areas, the index has failed to properly measure the ineffectiveness of the reforms process in Armenia.
The Open Society Foundations – Armenia was established in 1997 to assist democratic transformations and promote the values of an open society, the one characterized by rule of law, democratically elected government, respect for minorities and their rights, vigorous civil society. Towards this end, OSF – Armenia has been supporting numerous projects and activities in the field of civil society, law, education, mass media, information, including publishing, electronic communication, support for libraries, public health, women’s rights, arts and culture. For more information, please visit www.osf.am