Armenian Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigorian and European Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas presided over the first round of the talks in Yerevan on Monday.
“The launch of the visa liberalization dialogue is a clear demonstration of our commitment to enhancing mobility and cooperation with Armenia,” a joint statement issued by the two sides quoted Schinas as saying.
The statement said the dialogue will focus on “areas which are crucial for future visa-free travel to the EU.” Those include “document security, border and migration management, the fight against corruption and organized crime as well as upholding fundamental rights,” it said.
“I think it is realistic to complete the process in two or three years,” Deputy Foreign Minister Vahan Kostanian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “The Armenian side is ready to move forward without wasting time.”
Another vice-minister, Paruyr Hovannisian, said the Armenian government is “quite optimistic” about such a time frame. “In any case, there is nothing insurmountable,” said Hovannisian.
The joint statement stressed in this regard that the negotiations “will last as long as it is necessary” and that “there will be no automatic transition to visa-free travel” after their successful conclusion.
“All benchmarks must be fully met before the final decision on visa liberalization is taken by the Council of the EU and the European Parliament,” it said, noting the fact the eventual lifting of EU visas for Armenians will require the unanimous approval of the bloc’s 27 member states.
Neighboring Georgia needed five years of negotiations to secure a visa-free regime for its citizens. Another ex-Soviet state, Moldova, completed the same process within four years.
According to Hovannisian, the agenda of the visa liberalization dialogue with Brussels also includes issues such as the creation of a national system of health insurance in Armenia and the issuance of biometric passports to Armenian nationals.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s government has repeatedly delayed both measures promised by it. Earlier this year, it put on hold a revised health insurance plan drawn up by the Armenian Ministry of Health.
The government recently called an international tender for the right to print Armenian biometric passports. The head of its Migration and Citizenship Service, Armen Ghazarian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that the winner of the tender will be chosen by next spring, one year before the planned start of the distribution of such passports.
EU leaders first pledged to start visa liberalization talks with Yerevan in 2017 following the signing of a Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between the EU and Armenia. Both the current and former Armenian governments have since pressed the bloc to set a date for the talks.
Speaking in 2020, the then head of the EU Delegation in Yerevan, Andrea Wiktorin, said formal discussions on visa-free travel are hampered by the fact that “several” European countries still have concerns about the large number of Armenian asylum seekers on their soil.
The EU member states gave the green light for the process in July this year amid the Armenian government’s efforts to move closer to the West and its growing tensions with Russia.