On 11 March, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan addressed the European Parliament, highlighting peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan and his country’s EU membership aspirations.
Pashinyan spoke about the establishment of peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan, formalised on 8 August 2025 in Washington DC, when President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Pashinyan signed a Joint Declaration in the White House.
The Armenian Prime Minister touched upon the latest political developments in Armenia, ongoing efforts to resettle Armenians who fled the previous conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, attempts by certain clergy and political opposition forces to undermine peace efforts, and attempts to secure the freedom of Armenian prisoners of war still held captive in Azerbaijan.
Addressing those issues is critical to the current peace process, he said: “We are criticised for the fact that the peace established between Armenia and Azerbaijan is not perfect. But /…/ where has perfect peace ever existed, and when?”
Pashinyan further highlighted his country’s adoption of the law on the ‘Launch of the Process of the Republic of Armenia’s Accession to the European Union’, which initiates the process of Armenia’s accession to the EU.
“Now, after the adoption of this law, many in Armenia ask: when will Armenia become a member of the European Union? Our answer is very clear: no country can become a member of the EU without meeting its standards. Therefore, our task is to continue the path of reforms with the support of our European partners and first objectively meet the EU’s accession criteria,” Pashinyan said.
He also said that one of the biggest obstacles on Armenia’s path to EU integration at this moment is the frozen state of political dialogue between the EU and Georgia. “Georgia is our path to the European Union, and we adopted the law on the Launch of the Process of the Republic of Armenia’s Accession to the European Union after Georgia received EU candidate status. This made Armenia’s EU membership perspective tangible, and our expectation and request is that the constructive EU-Georgia process will develop. This is as important for Armenia as it is for Georgia.”
The Armenian Prime Minister concluded by saying that the upcoming parliamentary elections in Armenia on 7 June must serve to cement peace: “Our democracy must make peace irreversible, and then peace will make democracy irreversible.”
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