European Commissioner for Migration visits Armenia for first time to  monitor progress of visa liberalization with EU

ArmInfo. EU Commissioner for Home Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner visited Armenia for the first  time to monitor the implementation of the Visa Liberalization Action Plan with the European Union. This was reported by the press service of the Armenian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA).

The ministry emphasized that during the meeting with the European  Commissioner for Migration, Armenian Interior Minister Arpine  Sargsyan, as Armenia's lead negotiator in the visa liberalization  process, emphasized the importance of bilateral cooperation and the  progress achieved. She noted that the work envisaged by the plan in  the areas of migration, border control, law enforcement, and justice  are already at various stages of implementation. The Armenian  official assured that Armenia highly values the European Union's  efforts to regulate migration flows and emphasized the importance of  reducing illegal migration flows from Armenia to EU countries and  fostering informed and responsible migration behavior through visa  liberalization.

In turn, the European Commissioner praised the efforts to liberalize  the movement of Armenian citizens to EU countries and noted that the  strong will and resources invested in this area are already yielding  tangible results. He expressed confidence that Armenia's commitment  to achieving high-quality, targeted, and timely progress will lead to  the expected results.

The parties also noted that, since the start of the dialogue, Armenia  received an Action Plan in an impressively short time compared to  other countries, followed by coordination of actions by the Ministry  among the relevant agencies to achieve targeted and timely results.  At the end of the meeting, the Armenian Interior Minister expressed  gratitude to the EU for its ongoing support and active negotiation  process with the country and confirmed its readiness to continue  high-quality practical cooperation.

As a reminder, visa liberalization negotiations between Armenia and  the EU began in December 2024. Key reform areas include document  security, border and migration management, mobility and asylum  policy, the fight against corruption and organized crime, and the  protection of citizens' fundamental rights.  Armenian Interior  Minister Arpine Sargsyan and the European Commission's Deputy  Director-General for Migration and Home Affairs, Johannes Luchner,  noted at the time that the process had no deadline for completing the  negotiations.