The strengthening of relations between the European Union (EU) and Armenia corresponds to the interests of both of them. Toivo Klaar, the European Union (EU) Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the Crisis in Georgia, told this to the RFE/RL Armenian Service—and addressing the question whether Armenia can find a place in the EU community and consider itself a member of the EU in a foreseeable future.

How this relationship will develop remains to be seen, Klaar said. He believes that compared to just a few years ago, the relations between the EU and Armenia have developed considerably. But he believes it is too early to tell where they will end up in this relationship. According to him, it depends on the political decisions made in Yerevan, in Brussels, and in the EU member states.

All this is a process in which Armenia has just started to reach some elements where the two parties could have been a little further ten years ago, but at that time Armenia decided otherwise, and so the two parties are perhaps making up for lost time in their relationship, Klaar added.

The EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus did not directly answer the question of whether Armenia’s CSTO membership is an obstacle to this. He believes that right now they have to look at what the government of Armenia and the Armenian people want to do, where they want to go, and how they see the development of relations with the EU in the best way.

Toivo Klaar believes that the good thing is that they also see a real strengthening of the EU-Armenia relationship in the Brussels meeting last week, and the United States is there to help support Armenia's resilience. It was a very important message that, in my Klaar’s, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen conveyed to Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan.