The European Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Johannes Hahn, strongly believes that very soon they will be mandated to start negotiations with Armenia to sign an agreement. 

Hahn, speaking to the RFE/RL Armenian Service on Thursday in the in the Latvian capital city of Riga, stated that on Wednesday, his staff and the respective services of the European Commission submitted a positive report to the Council of Europe (CoE), and now everything depends on the CoE.

But the European commissioner is confident that very soon they will be mandated to commence talks with Armenia.

He added, however, that the problem is that any issue regarding foreign policy must receive the approval—and unanimous, in that—of the EU member states. But Hahn believes that their report and its concept are so convincing that they will receive a unanimous approval.

The EU Eastern Partnership Summit has kicked off Thursday in Riga, and the President of Armenia is also attending this event.