On December 18, the head of the Armenian representation in the EU, Tigran Balayan, presented his credentials to the President of the European Council, Charles Michel.
President Michel wished Ambassador Balayan to work successfully in his position, emphasizing the initiatives to promote the Armenia-European Union partnership and reaffirming his support.
Tigran Balayan thanked for the good wishes and noted that Armenia has made all possible efforts to bring the partnership with the European Union and its member states to a qualitatively new level.
Expressing Armenia’s gratitude to President Michel and highlighting the CE President’s efforts to establish peace in the South Caucasus, Balayan also emphasized that Azerbaijan’s gross violations of the agreements reached within the framework of the Brussels format and the lack of adequate consequences ultimately led to the complete ethnic cleansing of Nagorno Karabakh. Therefore, it is necessary to take steps toward Azerbaijan’s implementation of all legally binding decisions of the International Court of Justice and return Baku to the negotiating table.
The ambassador informed President Michel about Azerbaijan’s growing ambitions towards the sovereign territory of Armenia and Baku’s continuous attempts to disrupt the peace process, including the real reasons for not appearing at the Granada negotiations and the planned negotiations in Brussels.
The parties also exchanged ideas on demarcating the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and the possibilities of unblocking communications and roads. In this context, Ambassador Balayan presented the RA government’s “Crossroads of Peace” project and highlighted its inclusion in the EU’s “Global Gateways” initiative.
At the end of the meeting, President Michel asked to convey his greetings and best wishes to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and President Vahagn Khachaturyan.
