The European Parliament adopted a resolution emphasizing the need for close ties between the EU and Armenia, and the need for a peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
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The document authored by the European People's Party group was adopted by 504 members of the European Parliament, with 4 voting against and 32 MEPs abstaining.
The MEPs propose to consider the possibility of granting Armenia the status of a candidate for EU membership.
“Should Armenia be interested in applying for candidate status and continuing on its path of sustained reforms consolidating its democracy, this could set the stage for a transformative phase in EU-Armenia relations,” reads the draft joint resolution.
The draft emphasizes that EU-Armenia relations are based on such common values as democracy, rule of law, human rights and fundamental freedoms.
“The Republic of Armenia is ready to be as close to the European Union as the EU considers possible,” the resolution quotes the Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's address to the European Parliament on October 17, 2023.
the MEPs call on the executive bodies of the European Union, the Commission and the Council to actively support Armenia in expanding cooperation with the European Union, which includes not only economic partnership, but also political dialogue, security, relations between people and other countries.
The resolution also refers to the events that took place in Nagorno-Karabakh in September of last year.
“On 19 September 2023, after a nine month illegal blockade of the Lachin Corridor, disregarding its commitments included in the November 2020 ceasefire agreement and International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling, Azerbaijan launched an offensive on the remaining parts of the Nagorno-Karabakh not already under its control; whereas more than 100 000 Armenians had to flee the territory, resulting in Nagorno-Karabakh being almost entirely deprived of its Armenian population, who had been living there for centuries,” the draft reads.
The resolution of the European Parliament also emphasizes the continuous threats of the Azerbaijani leadership against the territorial integrity of Armenia and says that “The Azerbaijani army continues to occupy approximately 170 km2 of the sovereign territory of Armenia.”
The European Parliament supports the negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan with a view to concluding a peace treaty and calls on both sides to „remain fully committed to a lasting and peaceful settlement of the long-standing dispute.” In addition, the European Parliament appeals to the European Union to continue promoting peace in the region.
“The European Parliament recorded Armenia's achievements in the domain of democracy, rule of law, fight against corruption, which is extremely important for the international perception of our country. I hope that the political forces, NGOs, various layers of society, citizens of Armenia will express their attitude towards this message made from the European Parliament because such messages need a much wider response than the government or parliamentary majority,” said the Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan.
The Azerbaijani side also responded to the resolution. Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Aykhan Hajizada said that the resolution is a “clear example of a recurrent double-standards approaches against Azerbaijan.”
