After several years of negotiations, the European Council on July 17 in Brussels finally approved the European Commission's proposal to start talks around visa liberalization with Armenia.

“After the approval of the 27 member states, the issue will be referred to the European Commission, which will announce exactly when the negotiations will start and what program of action will be presented to Yerevan,” said RFE/RL Europe Editor Rikard Jozwiak.

This means that there will be annual reports on the steps taken; this will continue for several years. In the case of some countries, such as Moldova, it took 3 to 4, Georgia 5, and Ukraine 9 years. Negotiations with Turkey have been going on for over 10 years, so each country is going through this journey differently. This is the beginning of the process, which takes time to complete.

Today's decision on Armenia says that the visa requirement will be canceled only if full compliance with all criteria is met.

According to Jozwiak, Brussels usually puts forward four main requirements - from border management to the fight against organized crime and corruption. These are mostly internal issues - document security and border security.

"Two structures have the right to make the final decision on this issue; the first is the European Parliament, in which Armenia has the necessary support, and the second is the member states. All 27 together must give their consent, which is not always easy, as now a movement against illegal i