The European Commission’s lead spokesperson for foreign affairs and security policy Peter Stano has commented on the EU’s decision to launch visa liberalization talks with Armenia.
In an exclusive interview with Armenpress Brussels correspondent, Peter Stano also commented on Azerbaijan’s recent statement accusing the EU of ‘undermining peace and stability’ in the region.
The EU spokesperson also spoke about the importance of the return of forcibly displaced Armenians to Nagorno-Karabakh under international guarantees.
Questions: The High Representative spoke about the possibilities of visa liberalization. To what extent is this realistic and on what processes does it depend on being brought to life?
Stano: The European Union said very clearly at the level of the leaders of the European Union in their meeting in October that we want to explore ways to further support Armenia and deepen our cooperation with Armenia and then in the follow up discussions this week by foreign ministers, the Foreign Minister said that one of the ways we are looking at is the visa liberalization. So, we are going to explore options for visa liberalization with Armenia. This means we will start the process to see whether it's feasible, whether it's possible. Visa liberalization is something that is very important because it's tangible and visible for people. But it's also something where all the Member States need to agree eventually and where there are also tasks to be fulfilled on the side of the partner country, in this case of Armenia, but again, it's important that there is an agreement. We want to start to look at the options and explore the possibility of visa liberalization. So, we are launching a process. This is the start of the process, but it is a process that eventually, if everything goes well, might bring a lot of benefits for the Armenian citizens.
Armenpress: What kind of tasks? Can you give one or two examples?
Stano: In general, for visa liberalization, there are technical requirements that means biometric passports, for example, but also political requirements to make sure that the political framework in the country prevents people from misusing the asylum system. First of all, that people are not forced to leave the country and claim asylum. Because this is one of the main priorities when it comes to visa. Free visa regimes that we don't want to have sudden increase of asylum seekers and in order to prevent the misuse of the, let's say, visa free or liberalized travel regime. So political criteria and technical logistical criteria on the side of the applicant and then of course the Member States need to be convinced, need to be assured that everything has been done on the side of the partner country that the visa liberalization in this case will not be misused.
