Armenia Escapes Europe Ban

Council of Europe resolution postpones day of reckoning for Yerevan government. By Rita Karapetian in Yerevan (CRS No. 450, 03-Jul-08) The Armenian opposition has criticised a decision by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, PACE, to give the government more time to meet a series of tough benchmarks for democracy. The assembly decided to give Armenia until January next year to meet a number of criteria set following the political crisis created by a disputed presidential election in February and the bloodshed that followed it on March 1-2. It will still face the risk of losing its voting rights in PACE if it is deemed to have failed to comply with these demands. Armenian president Serzh Sarkisian said his country had already begun to move ahead. “We don’t need short-term solutions and formal proposals,” he... [read full story]