European Union ambassadors from the bloc's 27 nations have approved a European Commission proposal to start visa liberalization talks with Armenia, sources told RFE/RL on July 17.
The long-discussed proposal now heads to the European Council for formal approval, and then on to the commission, which will announce details on when it will start the negotiations and the action plan it is putting forward.
The process is different for each country as they try to fulfill various security requirements, but the process is expected to take several years to complete.
The sources said the decision regarding Armenia states that the requirement for visas will be removed only if all necessary criteria are fully met.
Brussels usually puts forward four main demands ranging from border management to the fight against organized crime and corruption.
It's likely to take up to six months for the EU to come up with its demands, analysts said.
Armenia joined the EU's Eastern Partnership program in 2009, a move that was meant to bring it, along with several other countries including South Caucasus neighbors Azerbaijan and Georgia, closer to the bloc without a clear offer of future membership.
The progress on visa liberalization comes after the European Parliament adopted a resolution on rapprochement with Armenia amid Yerevan's souring relations with traditional ally Moscow.
The resolution says the bloc should “take advantage of this potential geopolitical shift and help Armenia gain a stronger foothold in the community of democracies.”
Yerevan has edged closer to the West through military and other ties and since its defeat last year by Caucasus archfoe Azerbaijan, which retook control of Nagorno-Karabakh after a lightning offensive in September 2023 along with other areas internationally recognized as Azerbaijani but controlled for decades by ethnic Armenians.
Armenia has accused longtime power broker Moscow and the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) of offering little help to keep Azerbaijan at bay.
The CSTO is an alliance of six ex-Soviet states -- Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.