Alexander Pracht
Armenia’s leading opposition party, Strong Armenia, supports the country’s European integration but considers the ruling Civil Contract party’s aspirations to become a member of the European Union “a propaganda gimmick.” This is according to Marianna Ghahramanyan, the party’s lawmaker in Armenia’s National Assembly.
“As the Strong Armenia party, we certainly support European integration. We support introducing the highest standards and best practices in various sectors. [...] We are dealing with a massive propaganda gimmick that the ruling government is using to feed the public. And we have no clear signals from our European partners either. There has been no statement by a senior official from any country or European institution explicitly addressing Armenia’s accession to the European Union,” Ghahramanyan told CivilNet in an interview on Tuesday.
Following the parliamentary elections in June, Strong Armenia, which came second to Civil Contract, secured 29 out of 105 seats in the legislature. Its lawmaker, Harutyun Harutyanyan, was selected as chair of the standing committee on European Integration under a rule guaranteeing proportional representation in the leadership of parliamentary committees.
Despite this, Ghahramanyan avoided telling CivilNet whether Strong Armenia would like to see Armenia become a member of the European Union, including if it becomes the ruling party in future elections, though she was asked several times whether EU membership is on the party’s agenda.
“I repeat: we support deepening and strengthening our relations with the European Union,” she replied when asked directly about EU membership.
Armenia adopted a non-binding EU integration act in March 2025, declaring its aspiration to join the EU without setting a deadline. The country’s leadership, including Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, has repeatedly said Armenia would like to become a member of the EU. However, Pashinyan told French publication RFI on Tuesday that the country is not yet ready to join, adding that many reforms must be implemented first to meet the European Union’s standards.
Earlier in August, Pashinyan said Armenia would begin work toward submitting a formal application for membership “soon.”
The EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos said last year that “for any country to apply for membership in the European Union, there are two conditions: it must be a sovereign state and be in Europe.” In a separate interview, she added: “Armenia is European.”
The European Union, created in its current form in 1993, last admitted a new member in 2013, when Croatia joined.
The path to full EU membership from a formal application takes nine years on average, but can take as long as 14 years, as was the case with Malta and Cyprus.
Current candidates for membership include Armenia’s northern neighbor Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, as well as Albania and the former Yugoslav countries that have yet to join the bloc. Montenegro is considered the closest to becoming a full member.
To join the European Union, a country needs to satisfy extensive requirements known as the Copenhagen criteria. These include, among other things, stable democratic institutions, the rule of law, human rights, respect for and protection of minorities, and a functioning market economy. These adjustments are made by candidate countries through negotiations with Brussels.
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