The political leadership of European countries and the European Union arrived in Yerevan to participate in the 8th summit of the European Political Community (EPC).
According to the government press service, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and his Polish counterpart Donald Tusk, Bulgarian President Iliana Yotova, arrived in the Armenian capital.
Volodymyr Zelensky also arrived for the summit. Other officials in Yerevan include European Council President Antonio Costa, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Parliament President Roberta Mezzola, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaya Kallas, Council of Europe Secretary General Alain Berset and OSCE Secretary General Feridun Sinirlioglu.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will not attend the event. There are currently no reports of representatives from Azerbaijan or Turkey arriving. The EPO summit will be held in Yerevan on 4 May. The first Armenia-EU summit will be held in Yerevan on May 4-5.
Earlier, during a working visit to Yerevan on May 20-21, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov noted that Armenia is seeking to host the ENP summit in 2026. The Foreign Minister said that Moscow has already appreciated this idea and hopes that it will be “understood and accepted with respect“, just as Russia respects the actions of its partners and allies within the CIS and CSTO. Subsequently, Armenian authorities confirmed that the 8th ENP summit will be held in Yerevan, announcing that it is scheduled for May 4, 2026.
The first ENP summit was held in October 2022 in Prague with the participation of 44 countries. This format was initially created by Brussels as a tool to counter Russia. As Josep Borrell, then EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, put it, the ENP should “send a signal to Russia of a new world order without it“.