Hovsep Khurshudyan’s speech at the 13th annual meeting of the Conference of Regional and Local Authorities for the Eastern Partnership (CORLEAP) in Rzeszow, Poland.
«Dear CORLEAP members and guests of the 13th CORLEAP Annual Meeting! Thank you for inviting me to be present in the meeting. Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum is ready for deepening cooperation with CORLEAP in the field of education, civil society, and especially Youth engagement in the local self-government, in the field of revealing of the potential of communities and the grooving of the effectiveness of the local self-government in the EaP region through the sharing the best European experience and through the education of the EaP countries local self-governmental officials the EU standards in the field of local self-governance. In this regard, EaP CSF is ready to cooperate with CORLEAP while establishing CORLEAP Academy.
We are living in difficult times, full of threats and challenges, coming not only from the borders, as in the case of Russia, but also from the inside of Europe and of the West in general, from the inside of the Eastern Partnership region. I mean the dictatorial regimes of Azerbaijan and Belarus. I think that Europe cannot resist these threats without real consolidation. To hold back arming autocracies it is not enough just to implement sanctions against them. So, to defend democracy, human rights, international law, and world order, I think Europe must first believe in its strength, be more united, and arm itself.
Political parties, leaders of communities, and local authorities must explain to the people the need for unity and united resistance, the need to defeat Euroscepticism, and the need for more support for Ukraine to defeat the Russian aggressor.
Civil societies in EaP countries continue to struggle constantly. Last year, Moldova’s Civil Society, together with democratic political forces, overcame the Russian attempt to interfere with the political process in Moldova and harm the Euro-integration process. However, a new challenge is coming this year during the parliamentary elections. The Georgian civil society is continuing its fight to sustain democracy, free elections, and European choice of its country. In the country or abroad, Belarussian civil society is preparing itself to fight for democracy and free Belarus during the upcoming election, which will take place in 5 days. Ukrainian civil society, together with the people of Ukraine and as its part, continuing its existential war for freedom and sovereignty, fighting for the security of all of Europe.
In Armenia, civil society, in cooperation with democratic political forces, initiated gathering signatures for a draft law, starting the process of Armenia’s accession to the EU. We succeeded in this, gathering more than the necessary 50.000 signatures. Soon, this law will be adopted by the parliament, and the landmark of EU membership will become the official foreign policy of the Republic of Armenia. Therefore, I call CORLEAP members, EU, and EaP officials to welcome and support this process.
Dear colleagues, on behalf of the EaP CSF, I wish the CORLEAP 13th annual meeting fruitful work».
