European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on Thursday 4 June an EU support plan for Armenia including immediate financial assistance of more than €50 million.
The plan comes as Russia recently extended export restrictions on Armenian products. “This is nothing short of economic coercion, and it is unacceptable”, she stressed in a statement following a call with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, adding that through these restrictions, “Moscow is weaponising economic relations for political pressure”.
Beyond the €50 million support, the President announced that other measures would follow. According to her, the plan “provides for measures to ease the trade for some Armenian products, in particular agri-food. And on practical support for affected sectors, such as Armenian flowers, given that Russia has recently restricted Armenia’s flower imports over questionable allegations”.
“A shipment of 10,000 flowers is planned to arrive in Latvia tomorrow. Others will follow”, Ms von der Leyen explained.
The President promised that the EU would continue to develop its economic partnerships, in line with the commitments made at the 5 May summit in Yerevan (see EUROPE 13862/9), a summit that highlighted the strengthening of relations. A ministerial meeting of the Connectivity Platform will be held on 23 June and a joint EU-Armenia working group, which will oversee the implementation of all the initiatives and any subsequent measures, will also be created. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)