On Tuesday 27 February, the representatives of the political groups gave their support to the rapprochement between the European Union and Armenia, which is “a pillar of democracy in a host of autocracies”, according to several MEPs (see EUROPE 13349/21).
“The Armenian people say that Europe is their home (...) The EU must accept the outstretched hand of the Armenians, build bridges to cooperate”, stressed Rasa Juknevičienė (Lithuanian) for the EPP, while Anna Fotyga (ECR, Polish) welcomed the new dynamic between the EU and Armenia.
Recalling that Armenia was eligible to join the EU, Viola von Cramon-Taubadel (Greens/EFA, German) felt that Armenia’s future lay in Europe. “We must offer Armenia a way forward, a guarantee of security and prosperity”, she explained.
Estonia’s Marina Kaljurand, for S&D, called for a dialogue to be initiated on visa liberalisation and asked Armenia to work on its high dependence on Russia.
Nathalie Loiseau (Renew Europe, French) asked the Member States to follow France’s example and provide military assistance to Yerevan. In her view, “to bring peace, we not only need negotiations, we need to convince Baku and Moscow to finally respect Armenian democracy and the Armenian people”. “All possible help should be provided through the European Peace Facility to support the security process in the country. This is the only way to guarantee peace and avoid making the same mistake as in Nagorno-Karabakh”, added Anna Bonfrisco (ID, Italian).
MEPs also called for a peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan. For Ms Juknevičienė, Azerbaijan “could go down in history as having participated in the peace effort and not the war effort in the region”.
Armenian and Azerbaijani delegations will meet in Berlin on Wednesday 28 and Thursday 29 February for peace negotiations. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)