European Political Community summit opens in Yerevan amid Armenia’s westward push
Leaders of European Union member and partner states convened in Yerevan on Monday for the latest European Political Community summit, underscoring the Armenian government’s efforts to forge closer ties with the West. Participants included French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Melonia and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
They were joined by the EU’s top officials as well as Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz skipped the summit, citing a busy schedule. Neighboring Turkey sent its vice president, Cevdet Yilmaz, while Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev was due to address the gathering via video link.
The semi-annual summit, initiated by France following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, was due to focus on “hybrid” threats and other political and economic challenges facing wider Europe. It will be followed on Tuesday by a separate summit between the EU and Armenia.
According to a draft of its concluding statement, EU leaders will pledge to continue “bringing Armenia closer to the European Union” but stop short of promising the South Caucasus nation’s eventual membership in the 27-nation bloc. Nor does the document promise additional economic assistance to Yerevan.
Amid heightened tensions with Russia, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s government enacted last year a law calling for the “start of a process of Armenia's accession to the European Union.” Russian officials have since repeatedly warned that Armenia risks paying a heavy price for this policy, and Moscow stepped up those warnings in the run-up to the Yerevan summits.
Zelenskyy’s arrival in the Armenian capital could only add to Russian-Armenian tensions. Armenia’s opposition has cast the summits as a show of Western support for Pashinian ahead of the June 7 parliamentary elections.
In a weekend statement, the Hayastan alliance accused the EU of effectively meddling in “Armenia’s internal political processes,” saying, “We regret to note that statements made by representatives of the European Union's executive branch only increase our concerns that the manipulative actions of the Armenian authorities appear to be receiving European support.” Earlier this year, the EU decided to send two new missions to Armenia tasked with helping Yerevan cope with “hybrid threats” emanating from abroad, presumably Russia.
A similar EU mission was deployed in Moldova ahead of last September’s parliamentary elections, which were won by the former Soviet republic’s pro-Western leadership. The EU–Armenia summit on Tuesday is expected to formalize the outcomes from Yerevan, setting out the next steps for closer cooperation while leaving membership and additional aid off the table for now.