EU delivers first visa liberalization progress report to Armenia, notes good progress
The European Commission has highly appreciated Armenia’s early steps toward visa liberalization with the European Union, handing over the first progress report on the Visa Liberalization Action Plan (VLAP) to Interior Minister Arpine Sargsyan on Tuesday during the Armenia-EU Summit.
The handover, conducted by Vassilis Maragos, the EU’s ambassador and head of delegation in Yerevan, took place in the presence of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, European Council President Antonio Costa, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Sargsyan is Armenia’s chief negotiator on visa liberalization with the EU. According to the report, the document records a clear political commitment by Armenia to carry out the reforms required under the VLAP. It states that, despite the plan being presented to Armenia only recently, many necessary reforms have already been initiated or are planned.
Coordinated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the government has launched or programmed a significant portion of legislative and policy changes, and work on document security and migration management is described as being at an advanced stage of development.
The assessment outlines progress across the plan’s four areas: security of travel documents; border, migration and asylum management; public order and security; and fundamental rights related to freedom of movement.
While welcoming the positive momentum, the European Commission emphasized that progress is measured strictly through a results-based approach and remains conditioned on the effective and consistent implementation of all benchmarks. The report also includes recommendations to help Armenia address identified gaps.
The Commission said it will continue to monitor implementation with the support of experts from EU member states and will organize additional assessment missions in Armenia in the near future. It added that the EU remains committed to supporting Armenia’s reforms with targeted technical and financial assistance, including through the Resilience and Growth Plan for Armenia.
In its conclusion, the Commission considers that Armenia has made good progress on benchmarks relevant to the first phase of the VLAP—the legislative and policy framework—taking into account that the VLAP was officially handed over to Armenian authorities only in November 2025.
It notes that the first set of benchmarks under block 1 (document security, including biometrics) and within block 2 (migration management) are at an advanced stage of fulfilment. Armenia is also said to be progressing well on the first set of benchmarks in other areas under block 2 (integrated border management, asylum), block 3 (public order and security), and block 4 (external relations and fundamental rights).