European Union (EU) visa liberalization is realistic for Armenia, head of the EU Delegation to Armenia told CivilNet in an interview.

Ambassador Vassilis Maragos, since 2019, the EU has not started a visa liberalization dialogue with any partner other than Armenia.

The launch of the visa liberalization dialogue with Armenia was an exceptional political step that was taken last year. It was launched on September 9, 2024. In the last five years, when Ursula von der Leyen has been the President of the European Commission of the EU, the latter has not actually started a visa liberalization dialogue with any other partner. So, it is a significant event. And the EU did it because they believe in it, because they believe that it is realistic, Maragos said.

Also, the EU ambassador considered the work done by Armenia so far to achieve visa liberalization with the EU to be sufficient.

The EU had assessment missions when Kaja Kallas, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, was in Armenia in June. She announced the completion of the work of the internal commission for the preparation of the visa liberalization action plan. This is now being discussed with the EU member states, and when this discussion is over, the action plan will be submitted to the Armenian public and the Armenian authorities, Maragos said.

According to the EU ambassador, the implementation of this action plan will set the timeframe for when Armenian citizens will be able to travel to the EU without a visa.