The two men met on the sidelines of an annual international security forum in the German city two days after the Armenian government pushed through the parliament a bill calling for Armenia’s eventual membership in the EU.
Pashinian made no mention of the issue in an X post on his “meaningful exchange” with the EU’s top official. He said they discussed “key issues on Armenia-EU partnership” and efforts to end the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.
The Armenian government released a similar readout of the talks. It cited Pashinian as telling Costa that Yerevan “attaches importance to expanding and developing multi-faceted ties with the EU with the aim of developing capacities in various fields.” Costa said, for his part, that the EU is committed to “deepening cooperation in all fields,” according to the statement.
As of Friday evening, the EU issued no statement on the meeting that took place in the morning. Nor did Costa comment on the conversation with Pashinian on his X page.
Pashinian telephoned Costa on January 13 four days after his cabinet formally endorsed the bill on “the start of a process of Armenia's accession to the European Union.” The bill was drafted by pro-Western groups loyal to the Armenian government. They collected last year 60,000 signatures in support of their demands for a referendum on joining the EU.
Pashinian has said that the referendum should be held only after Yerevan and the EU work out a “roadmap” to Armenia’s accession to the bloc. No EU member state has officially voiced support for such a prospect so far. Nor has the EU’s executive body, the European Commission, welcomed Yerevan’s initiative that comes amid a deepening rift between Armenia and Russia.
Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Paruyr Hovannisian added to the uncertainty on Monday when he stressed that “the adoption of the bill in itself does not constitute an application for Armenia's membership in the European Union.”
Russia, which is Armenia’s leading trading partner and energy supplier, has repeatedly warned that an EU membership bid will mark the “beginning of Armenia's withdrawal from the Eurasian Economic Union,” a Russian-led trade bloc.
Maria Zakharova, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, suggested on Thursday that the authorities in Yerevan are misleading Armenians about economic consequences of such a scenario.
“Attempts, one might say, to somehow avoid voicing this problem, to gloss over it, to fail to see this important nuance are simply a denial of reality and, perhaps, to some extent, misinformation of those who are being asked to make the relevant decisions,” Zakharova told reporters.
“It is the current Armenian authorities, not Russia or the Eurasian Economic Union, that bear the key responsibility for explaining to the population all the consequences of the steps they are planning,” she said.
The EU’s share in Armenia’s foreign trade has fallen significantly since Pashinian came to power in 2018. According to Armenian government data, it stood at 7.5 percent in January-November 2024, down from 24.3 percent in 2017. By contrast, Russia’s share rose from 26.7 percent to 41 percent in the same period.