RFE/RL – European Summit Held In Yerevan (UPDATED)

The participants included French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni 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 to the gathering while Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev was due to address it via video link.

The semi-annual summit initiated by France following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine focused on “hybrid” threats and other political and economic challenges facing wider Europe. Addressing its participants, EU Council President Antonio Costa said the gathering “places Armenia in the heart of Europe, which is exactly where it belongs.” He also said the choice of the summit venue was made by possible by Armenian-Azerbaijani peace agreements reached last year.

“The fact that Armenia is hosting this summit is a powerful illustration of the country’s courageous geopolitical path, a path that Armenia and the EU are walking together,” Costa told a news conference later in the day.

Most of the participants will attend on Tuesday a separate summit between the EU and Armenia. According to a draft of its concluding statement seen by RFE/RL’s Armenian Service, the 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.

The EU’s foreign and security policy chief, Kaja Kallas, would not be drawn on Armenia’s membership prospects. She indicated only that they depend on the outcome of the Armenian parliamentary elections slated for June 7.

“Armenia is making their own decisions and in Armenia we have elections coming in two months,” Kallas told journalists in Yerevan. “So European perspective is also on the table. But eventually the Armenians will decide.”

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. Moscow stepped up those warnings in the run-up to the Yerevan summits. Zelenskyy’s arrival in the Armenian capital could only add to the Russian-Armenian tensions.

The summits are seen by the Armenian opposition as a show of Western support for Pashinian ahead of the upcoming elections. In a weekend statement, the Hayastan alliance, one of the main opposition election contenders, accused the EU of effectively meddling in “Armenia’s internal political processes.”

“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,” it said in a statement.

“It is vital to strengthen Armenian democracy and fight external interference and misinformation,” Costa said in this regard.

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 won by the former Soviet republic’s pro-Western leadership.

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