Roberta Metsola - Hello everyone, good morning. I warmly welcome you, Prime Minister, Mr. Pashinyan.
It is a great pleasure to welcome you again to our home of democracy. Thank you for joining us today and I look forward to your speech in the plenary session, which will take place in a few minutes.
First of all, when Europe looks at Armenia, we see a friend, a companion, and I hope that when Armenia looks at Europe, you see a partner and an ally. Under your leadership, Mr. Prime Minister, there have been great achievements since our last meeting in the sidelines of the European Political Community in Copenhagen last October, when the European Union and Armenia agreed on a new strategic agenda within the framework of the European Union-Armenia partnership. This step in our relations will support democratic reforms, strengthen economic resilience, strengthen the rule of law and deepen security cooperation. We also welcome the fact that an action plan for visa liberalization has been presented. All this contributes to Europe's common goal of strengthening our cooperation in various areas, and I am very confident that our parliaments will continue to play a leading role in bringing your country closer to our Union.
So, we look forward to continuing our discussions, which will take place next week in the framework of the EU-Armenia Parliamentary Partnership Committee meeting, which we look forward to with great anticipation, and we look forward to participating in the European Political Community meeting, for which I will be in Yerevan.
In the context of the events in Iran in recent days, Armenia has become a crucial humanitarian corridor. I would like to thank you, as I did a moment ago during the bilateral meeting, for helping to evacuate European citizens.
Thank you, Mr. Prime Minister, please, take the floor. .
Nikol Pashinyan - It is an honor for me to be hosted here by you, as you mentioned, in the house of democracy. We feel the necessity and the need to return to the house of democracy from time to time to make sure and compare our democratic reform clock with the clocks of the house of democracy, to make sure that our democratic reform process is moving on the right path, at the right speed and in the right direction.
And of course, it is a great honor for us that we have the support of the European Union and the European Parliament on the path of democratic reforms. In my speech today, I also have the opportunity to share how the topics that we have previously had the opportunity to discuss have progressed over the past two and a half years. The most important thing that I said during the meeting is that in 2025 the law “On launching the process of accession of the Republic of Armenia to the European Union” was adopted and entered into force, which opens a new historical stage in the relations between Armenia and the European Union, and this is a new impetus for us to continue the process of democratic reforms.
You have already mentioned that Armenia and the European Union adopted a new strategic agenda, which raises our relations to a new level. Currently, we are actively negotiating on the issue of visa liberalization. During this time, the Republic of Armenia has also received support through the European Peace Facility, the mission of the European Union’s civil observers continues to operate in Armenia, whose role is difficult to overestimate. In general, our high-level political dialogue continues and has taken place at the level of both the executive branch and the legislative branch, as well as civil societies, and I am also pleased to note that we have a fairly large agenda for economic cooperation.
I would like to thank you again for this invitation and opportunity and I look forward to seeing you in Yerevan in early May for the European Political Community Summit.
Question – Ms Metsola, my question is for you. Given the European Parliament’s continued support for democracy in Armenia, does the European Parliament envisage any opportunity to expand its presence on the ground, its presence in the country, in order to deepen relations with all political parties and support an inclusive dialogue with all parties? Thank you.
Roberta Metsola - Thank you very much for this question. First of all, both in my speech and in the Prime Minister's speech, I think you saw, the commonality is that there is a very strong commitment to deepening ties with the European Union. We welcome Armenia's firm commitment between parliaments. In our case, there is political dialogue, but more so in the areas of security, trade, regional connectivity. We really want to deepen our cooperation and we have been saying this in this institution for years. Our relations with Armenia have significantly increased, in line with the commitment of our Armenian friends in recent months, we will continue to deepen our relations. That is why we wanted to invite the Prime Minister here today, this is just the first step within the framework of this mandate of ours. Next week, the meeting of the Europe-Armenia Parliamentary Partnership Committee will take place, in addition to the meeting of the European Political Community, the first ever European Union-Armenia summit will take place in May.
As for our presence on the ground, we take these decisions in the Bureau of the European Parliament. A few months ago, we decided to open an office in Moldova, last November, which should deal with the entire Eastern Partnership region, including Armenia. We confirm our full commitment to all our friends in the Eastern Partnership in this regard.
Question - Good morning, Mr. Prime Minister. Regarding the current relations with the European Union, could you please outline the next step, what is it and what is the possible timeframe for the EU-Armenia integration process? And given the current situation, the security situation in the region, does Armenia plan to deepen its cooperation with Europe in the field of defense, including, for example, participation in programs like the SAFE program? Are you currently discussing with any European partners the prospect of increasing security assistance to Armenia in the region? Thank you.
Nikol Pashinyan – You know, we already cooperate with the countries of the European Union in the field of security. We have cooperation with France in the military-technical sphere, I already mentioned that we have already received support from the European Union twice through the European Union Peace Facility. In general, we cooperate with the European Union in a regional context, and the recent peace with Azerbaijan creates an opportunity for us to expand our cooperation with the European Union, including in infrastructure projects.
In response to your question, I would like to mention such a nuance, which I have been talking about a lot recently also within the Republic of Armenia. In general, you know, when people say security, they very often mean weapons, ammunition, the army, special services, operational operations, etc., and we have been in that perception for a very long time, 30 years. The main problem that I see, and the main change in perception that I see, is that in Armenia too they talk a lot, they talk about security guarantees.
It is now obvious to me that the only guarantee of security is peace. There is no more reliable guarantee of security than peace. The second-layer security guarantee is cooperation, interconnectedness, economic cooperation and mutual benefit, because, as I have already said, recently we have also had military-technical cooperation with the United States of America, with a number of European countries, which we have never had before, but, nevertheless, understanding that the development of the army is very important and is not only the right, but also the duty of every sovereign country, our perceptions of security are changing over time, from military to political and diplomatic. And I think that we should put more emphasis on this logic. In Armenia, when I talk about this, I say that the army is not a security tool for us, but a security reserve, if suddenly, under any circumstances, the primary tools of peace that I mentioned, peace, cooperation, interaction and so on, suddenly fail to work.
