Lawmaker hopes Armenia-EU visa liberalization will become reality in few years

A senior Armenian lawmaker expressed hope on Tuesday that the Armenia-EU visa liberalization will become reality in a few years.

MP Arman Yeghoyan, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on EU Integration Affairs, made the comments in his remarks at the 4th Meeting of EU-Armenia Parliamentary Partnership Committee in Yerevan. Yeghoyan is the co-chair of the committee.

He said the Armenia-EU ties have developed significantly over the past 6 years since he assumed the post of co-chair of the EU-Armenia Parliamentary Partnership Committee.

“At that time, I didn’t feel that the European Parliament was interested in the issues of our region in all detail,” Yeghoyan said, adding that the changes took place in the past few years.

Regional security has had an important place in the agenda of the European Parliament and the EU’s executive bodies especially in the past two-three years, the MP said.

“Now Armenia is discussing with the EU the new agenda of partnership, which takes our relationship beyond the existing legal-contractual framework,” he said.

Yeghoyan pointed out the Armenian parliament’s adoption of the EU integration bill.

Speaking about the visa liberalization dialogue, he said, “This was a decision that we had been waiting for a very long time, and we worked painstakingly for many years not only with EU institutions but also with EU member states individually,” Yeghoyan said.

He thanked all 27 members of the EU, assuring that Armenia will take relevant steps because it has political will.

“And I hope that within a few years the visa liberalization will become reality. Armenia will do everything on its part for it to happen.”

The lawmaker also lauded the aid provided through the European Peace Facility.