At his Wednesday meeting with Speaker of Armenia’s parliament Hovik Abrahamyan and parliamentary groups President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy spoke well of Armenia and hailed the country’s efforts.

The May 6 parliamentary elections in Armenia showed Armenia’s serious progress and political will. He pointed out minor faults and expressed hope they will be rectified during the 2013 presidential election.

Visiting Armenia, one of the world’s most ancient countries, is a great honor for him, Herman Van Rompuy said. He noted the EU appreciates Armenia’s efforts to implement reforms under the Eastern Partnership project.

Herman Van Rompuy noted that Armenia has much to do in improving human rights protection and democratic development, protection of religious minorities’ rights. However, Armenia’s progress is appreciable.

Herman Van Rompuy called Armenia the European Union’s partner and noted that a dialogue, cooperation and consensus inside the country require great political will. This is not an easy task, but a realistic one.

Herman Van Rompuy dwelt on the prospects for settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. He stressed that Armenia and Azerbaijan must take steps to settle the conflict and expressed concern over the ceasefire violations along the Line of Contact, which claim human lives.

Herman Van Rompuy assured the Armenian MPs that the OSCE Minsk Group’s efforts to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and establish peace and stability in the South Caucasus.

Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan noted that closer relations with the EU and development of bilateral relations with European states are among Armenia’s foreign policy priorities. He is satisfied with the fact that Armenia-EU cooperation has showed significance expansion in recent years.

In recent years, Armenia, led by President Serzh Sargsyan, has made great efforts to build up a democracy based of European values, develop its relations with the EU. And tangible progress can now be recorded, Abrahamyan said.

Later, Naira Zohrabyan, a member of the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) parliamentary group, told Tert.am she wanted to ask the European Council’s president a question about the ceasefire violations on the Line of Contact. Or rather, she wanted to inquire about the EU’s position on Azerbaijan’s refusal to withdraw snipers from the Line of Contact.

Nikol Pashinyan, a member of the Armenian National Congress (ANC) parliamentary group, told Tert.am that he had sent his questions to Herman Van Rompuy, but the procedure changed at the last moment.

Later the EU office in Armenia informed Mrs Zohrabyan that the European Council’s president refused to answer any questions, which she thinks is wrong.

On his Facebook page, Armenia’s ex-FM, MP of the PAP Vartan Oskanian expressed his discontent with the fact.

Denying MPs the opportunity to ask questions is unacceptable. That was done in a rude manner, which made an unfavorable impression on both Herman Van Rompuy and the European delegation members. The European Council president’s visit to Armenia is an important event and a unique opportunity for MPs to raise problems Armenia is concerned over, especially since he said that he had arrived in Armenia to listen to them. Armenia’s authorities must realize that questions put by MPs that do not sound pleasant to the authorities may have positive impact on Armenia’s integration with the European Union (EU) than forced silence, Oskanian says on his Facebook page.

He wanted to ask a question about Nagorno-Karabakh: why have not EU representatives so far visited Nagorno-Karabakh under Azerbaijan’s pressure?