Speaking to journalists ahead of the latest session of the EU Foreign Affairs Council, Barrot said it will be an “opportunity to address the fate of Armenia”
“I will call on the European Union to develop its relationship with this country to which France is very attached so that we can once again provide it with all the support it has the right to expect,” he said without going into details of that support.
An official readout of the meeting released by the EU did not list Armenia among the topics discussed by the foreign ministers. Those included the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria as well as the political situation in Georgia.
The EU has repeatedly voiced support for the Armenian government, hailing its “democratic reforms” and efforts to reorient the South Caucasus country towards the West. In 2023, it launched a monitoring mission along Armenia’s border with Azerbaijan tasked with preventing or minimizing ceasefire violations there.
The mission’s two-year mandate ends in February 2025. It is still not clear whether Yerevan will ask the EU to extend it. Baku demanded last week the withdrawal of the more than 200 EU monitors, stoking fears of another Azerbaijani military attack on Armenia.
France, which is home to an influential Armenian community, has emerged in recent years as Armenia’s leading Western backer and supplier of weapons. Armenian Defense Minister Suren Papikian underlined the deepening military ties between the two nations earlier on Monday when he met with the chief of French President Emmanuel Macron’s Military Staff during a visit to Paris.
The Armenian Defense Ministry said Papikian and General Fabien Mandon held “comprehensive discussions on various areas of cooperation, including military education, training programs, advisory support, and military-technical issues.” They also discussed “regional and international security issues,” it said.