President Serzh Sargsyan receives EPP President Joseph Daul

President Serzh Sargsyan today received Joseph Daul, President of the European People’s Party (EPP).

The President expressed his thanks to the EPP President for accepting the invitation and standing beside the Armenian people during the events commemorating the Armenian Genocide Centennial. Serzh Sargsyan praised the activities of the EPP as the largest political group in the European Parliament and as a promoter of European values which are aimed at safeguarding and propagating the highest values of humanism and democracy.

Serzh Sargsyan emphasized the contribution of the EPP and of Mr. Daul personally to the adoption of a resolution condemning the Armenian Genocide by the European Parliament on April 15 of this year. The President also expressed gratitude for the resolution “The Armenian Genocide and European Values” adopted by the EPP Political Assembly on April 3 of this year on the occasion of the Armenian Genocide Centennial by which the EPP proved its unrelenting commitment to universal values and principles. Serzh Sargsyan highly appreciated the 2013 Annual Report on Human Rights and Democracy adopted by the European Parliament one month ago in which it calls upon all the EU member states to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide and encourages them and the EU institutions to stimulate the recognition of that crime. According to the President, all these steps and the response of those states where the EPP member parties represent the government made their invaluable contribution and gave fresh impetus to the recognition and condemnation of the crime committed at the beginning of the 20th century.

EPP President Joseph Daul thanked President Serzh Sargsyan for the invitation to visit Yerevan and take part in the events commemorating the Armenian Genocide Centennial. He stressed that he was extremely touched by the commemorative ceremony of April 24. The EPP President noted that yesterday he visited the Genocide Museum, made a note in the honorary guest book and now he wants to repeat the same words – memory is very important for him, but the next step, rapprochement, is of the same importance.

At the meeting, the RA President and the EPP President discussed issues pertaining to the current cooperation between Armenia and the European Union and its development prospects, as well as to the preparatory works of the Eastern Partnership Summit to be held in Riga in the near future.

The interlocutors expressed satisfaction with the close cooperation between the European People’s Party and the Republican Party of Armenia.