EU decides to allocate €10 mln aid to Armenia

The European Union (EU) has decided to start a dialog with Yerevan on visa facilitation, and the European Peace Facility will allocate €10 million in aid to Armenia. This was announced by EU representative Anouar El-Anouni during a briefing of the European Commission (EC) on January 13.

The relations between the EU and Armenia have never been as close as they are now, he noted. According to El-Anouni, the EU has decided to start a dialog on visa facilitation.

"The European Peace Foundation [will allocate] €10 million in aid. We have also increased our financial assistance to Armenia under the 'Sustainability and Growth' plan," the EU official said.

Earlier, on January 11, European official Anitta Hipper said that the European Commission plans to consider Armenia's legislative initiative to start its accession to the European Union.

Prior to that, on January 9, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk said that Russia considers the beginning of Armenia's discussion of the EU accession bill as the beginning of the country's withdrawal from the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). At the same time, the Armenian government approved the draft law on the beginning of the process of the state's accession to the European Union.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov pointed out that it is hypothetically impossible to combine membership in the EU and the EAEU because the two associations are significantly different. Besides, cooperation in the EAEU is beneficial for Yerevan.

In April 2024, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova drew attention to the fact that the West is only using the republic to "fuel the fire" in the Caucasus. In his turn, Armenian Ambassador to the EU Tigran Balayan pointed out that Yerevan's foreign policy turn towards rapprochement with the EU does not threaten Russia's interests in the Transcaucasus.