The European Commission has delivered its visa liberalisation plan to Armenia, setting the stage for the country to eventually acquire visa-free status to the EU. The move comes after visa liberalisation talks were launched in September 2024 and as Armenia is increasing its ties to the West.
Johannes Luchner, the European Commission’s Deputy Director-General for Migration and Home Affairs, delivered the document to Armenian Interior Minister Arpine Sargsyan on Wednesday in Yerevan.
‘The plan includes a range of objectives across various sectors, from security to human rights — goals that are to be achieved in the coming years’, Luchner said at the related press conference.
‘I congratulate the minister and the authorities on the rapid and substantial progress made in this process. We are ready to continue our cooperation to ensure that these objectives become a reality’.
In turn, Sargsyan said, ‘we are witnessing a historic event today, because, ultimately, within the framework of the visa liberalisation dialogue, we are taking the first tangible step, which is the result of joint efforts’.
The visa liberalisation action plan ‘includes a series of measures that will have a significant impact on the lives of Armenian citizens and, particularly in the context of visa liberalisation, will ensure the opportunity for dignified travel to various EU countries’, Sargsyan said.
The EU requires countries to meet certain benchmarks before providing visa-free access to the Schengen area. Before its citizens received visa free access to the EU, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine were tasked with meeting four blocks of requirements which tackled issues such as border management, migration and asylum, public order and security, and external relations and fundamental rights.
OC Media
