Welcome to Wider Europe, RFE/RL’s newsletter focusing on the key issues concerning the European Union, NATO, and other institutions and their relationships with the Western Balkans and Europe’s Eastern neighborhoods.
I’m RFE/RL Europe Editor Rikard Jozwiak, and this week I am drilling down on two issues related to Armenia: the first-ever EU-Armenia summit and the bloc’s new mission to the South Caucasus nation.
What You Need To Know: Armenia has become the European Union’s closest ally in the South Caucasus. While Georgia continues to drift away from the bloc and Azerbaijan remains an important partner in terms of energy imports but little else, it is now Yerevan that Brussels is truly betting on in that region.
The European Union has already made it clear it wants to counter Russian influence in the upcoming Armenian parliamentary elections on June 7, and several European officials have told RFE/RL they see it as the most important vote in the bloc’s immediate neighborhood this year. The very fact that the EU is setting up a new mission (see below) in the country to counter foreign interference shows the club’s intent.
Another clear indication of how highly Brussels currently values Yerevan is the first ever EU-Armenia summit taking place in the Armenian capital on May 5, which both European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and President of the European Council Antonio Costa are set to attend.
This comes just a day after the city hosts the summit of the European Political Community (EPC), bringing most European leaders a country that rarely gets international political attention.
Deep Background: Getting its own summit with the EU is quite a feat for the small South Caucasus republic. This is normally only reserved for really big international players such as China, India, or the United States; close and friendly neighbors like Moldova, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom; or regional blocs and groupings such as ASEAN, the African Union, or the six non-EU nations of the Western Balkans.
The summit itself will be mostly symbolic. The draft summit declaration, seen by RFE/RL, sketches out as much. There is nothing about a potential future EU membership of Armenia — an idea that the current government has been toying with in recent years. Instead, it simply states that the “EU reaffirms its steadfast commitment to further strengthen its relations with Armenia and to support Armenia’s resilience, reform agenda, and long-term development, bringing Armenia closer to the European Union.”
The text also notes that leaders at the summit will discuss the geopolitical situation in both Iran and Ukraine. On Armenia’s fraught relations with its neighbor Azerbaijan, there is not too much apart from a line stating that “we reaffirm our strong support for peace, security, connectivity and prosperity in the South Caucasus, and commend the efforts to further institutionalise the bilateral peace process with Azerbaijan and to ensure the final signature of the peace treaty.”
What You Need To Know: EU foreign ministers have given a green light to a new civilian mission to Armenia on April 21 that will help Yerevan with hybrid threats such as foreign election manipulation, cyberattacks, and illicit political funding over a two-year period starting in the coming months.
The mission, which will be called the European Union Partnership Mission in the Republic of Armenia (EUPM Armenia), was first requested by the South Caucasus nation in December. After several assessments in Brussels and Armenia, the bloc’s ambassadors unanimously voted in favor of the proposal to establish the mission last week.
Deep Background: EUPM Armenia will essentially replace another EU mission in Armenia, called EUMA, that finishes its four-year mandate at the start of 2027 having been created in 2023.
EUMA, however, had a completely different mandate, being created to contribute to stability in the border areas of Armenia and via patrolling and reporting support normalization efforts between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
While EUMA had over 200 people posted both in Yerevan and along the border to Azerbaijan, the new mission is expected to just have 20-30 people, mostly working in close cooperation with national authorities in the capital.
EUPM will have no links to Azerbaijan even though one of the previous EU documents related to the mission, seen by RFE/RL, stated that Brussels will “continue its outreach to Azerbaijan to explain the purpose of the EU’s support to Armenia and the need to avoid negatively impacting the ongoing peace process.”
The focus in Brussels this week will very much turn to Cyprus as the Mediterranean island will host EU leaders for an informal summit on April 23-24.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will address the leaders via videolink, but the main discussion point will be Iran and how European nations can contribute to the opening of the Strait of Hormuz and to discuss measures to lower the spiraling energy costs in the bloc due to the blockade.
That’s all for this week. Feel free to reach out to me on any of these issues on X @RikardJozwiak, or on e-mail at jozwiakr@rferl.org .
Until next time,Rikard Jozwiak
