While no military component was discussed during last week’s meeting in Brussels between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and top EU and U.S. officials, a senior pro-government lawmaker in Yerevan hopes Armenia will soon be granted access to security assistance.
In an interview with RFE/RL’s Armenian Service aired on Sunday Sargis Khandanyan, the head of the Armenian parliament’s committee on foreign relations and member of Pashinyan’s ruling faction, stressed the importance of access to the European Peace Facility (EPF), an EU funding mechanism to increase the defense capabilities of non-member states.
The European Union and the United States unveiled an aid package to Armenia amounting to a total of over $356 million during the April 5 trilateral meeting in Brussels between European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan.
Von der Leyen and Blinken said the aid would help the South Caucasus nation increase its “resilience” and “diversify” its economy, which is heavily dependent on Russia, but referred to no military or security assistance.
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Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan later confirmed that no military component was discussed at the Brussels meeting that was criticized by Azerbaijan, Armenia’s military archrival in the region, that saw it as being directed against it, as well as by Moscow where it was perceived as the West’s attempt to oust Russia, Armenia’s formal military ally, from the South Caucasus.
Khandanyan said, however, that discussions over Armenia’s access to the EPF instrument were ongoing and were part of “the bilateral agenda.”
“It is very important for Armenia that the European Union grant it access to the European Peace Facility, which will enable it to acquire non-lethal weapons and assistance to its defense system in different ways, with different methods,” Khandanyan said.
“But the Brussels meeting was not about the military topic, it was about the economic one, and the Armenian side had no such expectations. But it does not mean that this issue is off the agenda. On the contrary, discussions about it continue, and we hope that the European Union will make that decision in the near future,” he added.
When the EU Foreign Affairs Council approved the expansion of the EU border-monitoring mission in Armenia in late 2023, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell announced that they would also “explore a possible support to Armenia under the European Peace Facility.”
In an interview with RFE/RL’s Armenian Service late last week Peter Stano, lead spokesperson for the EU’s Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, confirmed that discussions on possible support to Armenia under the EPF were ongoing, but said that security policy is a “strictly member state-controlled area where any decision needs to be agreed by unanimity of all the member states.
“But they are working on it. For example, discussions on support from the European Peace Facility are ongoing, and at one point there will be a decision made. But the processes in the EU take some time, especially when you consider that it needs to be 27 member states finding a consensus,” Stano said.
