EU Opens Its Market to Armenian Goods — But There Is a Catch

The European Union has decided to abolish tariffs on a significant share of Armenian exports. The news sounds like Armenia's almost de facto entry into the European Union, since free access to the European market is the main advantage enjoyed by members of the bloc. The problem for Armenia is that this European favor only "sounds" good, but does not actually work that way. The European Union's official sources describe the development as follows: The Council has decided to introduce temporary trade liberalization measures for Armenian goods in order to support Armenia's economy following trade restrictions recently introduced by Russia. These measures will liberalize around 80% of Armenian exports to the EU.