Countdown for Armenia's visa liberalisation
The EU has agreed to start official talks with Armenia for a visa liberalisation process for Armenian citizens. EU leaders first pledged to begin visa liberalisation talks with Yerevan and five other former Soviet republics - which - as part of the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA), signed in 2017. Visa liberalisation will allow Armenian citizens free entry to the EU. However, the process won't be easy.
Before offering visa-free travel, the EU requires Armenia to meet a long list of strict criteria, including technical and legal requirements that align with EU standards. Most importantly, visa liberalisation requires unanimous backing from all EU member states — a challenge given the cautious stance of some countries, including Austria, the Netherlands, and Sweden, due to their strict immigration policies. In 2020, Andrea Wiktorin, the former head of the EU Delegation in Yerevan, noted that formal discussions on visa-free travel have been hindered by concerns from ”several” European countries regarding the large number of Armenian asylum seekers present in the EU.
Each country's path to visa liberalisation depends on how quickly it meets the criteria and gains the backing of all EU member states, with Moldova taking 3 to 4 years, Georgia 5 years, and Ukraine 9 years.
The EU’s decision to approve the ”visa liberalisation dialogue”comes amid the government’s efforts to move closer to the West and Armenia’s growing tensions with Russia. Russia has been widely perceived as backing out of its security guarantees in the region, including the inaction of Russian peacekeepers during Azerbaijan’s takeover of Nagorno-Karabakh in 2023 and refusing to support Armenia during Azerbaijani advances into Armenian sovereign territories. Meanwhile, the EU has been actively promoting stronger relations with Armenia. This includes the launch of the new EU-Armenian partnership agenda in February 2024, taking a more proactive role in addressing the rights of the Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians, and welcoming the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process, among other initiatives.