European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen will embark on a strategic go to to the South Caucasus this week to strengthen the EU’s dedication to the historic peace course of between Armenia and Azerbaijan and future alternatives.
In Yerevan and Baku, von der Leyen will present assist for Armenia within the face of Russia’s financial offensive with Yerevan’s cautious pro-Western stance, and convey Brussels’ need to strengthen power cooperation, commerce and regional ties with EU nations.
The EU chief government will go to Baku on Wednesday to fulfill Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, after which go to Yerevan on Thursday to fulfill re-elected Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and additional develop the EU’s strategic engagement with the 2 former rivals within the South Caucasus.
“The go to focuses on 4 priorities: supporting the peace course of after the beginning of final yr’s historic peace settlement, enhancing connectivity throughout the area and with Europe and Central Asia, deepening financial ties with the South Caucasus, and supporting Armenia within the face of Russia’s financial repression,” the European Fee mentioned in a press release.
Baku’s power and infrastructure on the agenda
Ms von der Leyen’s go to to Baku shall be her first since 2022, when the EU and Azerbaijan signed a Strategic Vitality Partnership geared toward increasing cooperation in pure fuel provides via the Southern Gasoline Hall. The European Union was urgently looking for an alternative choice to power imports within the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The talks between Ms. von der Leyen and Mr. Aliyev are subsequently anticipated to concentrate on Azerbaijan’s enlargement of power provides to Europe as a most important pillar of EU-Azerbaijan relations, in addition to cooperation on regional infrastructure initiatives which are at the moment of important significance to the EU economic system.
It would even be the primary go to since Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to peace after a long time of struggle over Karabakh, a area as soon as in Moscow’s orbit.
The go to continues the strategic EU political dialogue with the area, following European Council President Antonio Costa’s assembly with Mr. Aliyev within the Azerbaijani capital in March, throughout which Mr. Costa mentioned that Brussels and Baku are at the moment engaged on a brand new framework for nearer cooperation in protection, safety and digital improvement, with the goal of increasing ties past present power and key infrastructure linkages.
A complete of 16 European nations at the moment obtain Azerbaijani fuel, together with 10 EU member states, making Italy the EU’s largest importer of Azerbaijani power, as demonstrated by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s go to to Baku in Could.
Strategic various route
Connectivity is now one other key space for EU-Azerbaijan cooperation, with the Intermediate Hall rising as a strategic transport route between Asia and Europe, and a powerful Eurasian various amid disruptions in world provide chains within the Center East.
The Intermediate Hall, often known as the Trans-Caspian Worldwide Transport Route (TITR), is a transport community linking China and Southeast Asia to Turkey and Europe through Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Georgia.
Envisioned as a contemporary model of the traditional Silk Street, the highway represents a strategic alternative for a brand new and various transportation hyperlink between Europe and Asia through the South Caucasus, with a community of varied highway, rail and sea routes linking China and Black Sea ports.
Ranging from the port of Lianyungang in jap China, it traverses China utilizing the town of Xi’an as its most important hub, enters Kazakhstan, and from there branches off towards Uzbekistan within the south and the Caspian Sea within the west.
It then turns to sea routes, connecting to ports in Azerbaijan and Georgia, and terminating in hubs in Romania, Hungary and Poland.
Within the present geopolitical state of affairs, it has develop into an necessary transit route for items transportation between China and Europe. The Center Hall is about 3,000 kilometers shorter than the Northern Hall, which runs via Russia.
Marta Kos, Commissioner for European Enlargement, who will accompany Ms von der Leyen on each journeys, final week launched the EU’s new Connectivity Agenda Platform, via which the EU will take part within the Intermediate Hall challenge.
Outlining new EU connectivity initiatives, Koss mentioned it was necessary for Europe to enhance commerce routes and power safety, whereas avoiding conventional routes that are actually unreliable.
“Take a look at the map of planes earlier than and after the beginning of the current Iran struggle. Virtually all planes began passing via the Caucasus. It’s right here, via the Central Hall, that we are able to safe commerce, power and digital hyperlinks,” Kos mentioned, explaining that the Central Hall connects Europe and Asia through Turkey and the South Caucasus.
“Securing commerce, power and digital hyperlinks via dependable channels is a precedence for the European Fee,” the European Enlargement Commissioner mentioned as he ready for the EU management’s go to to Baku.
The European Union stays Azerbaijan’s largest buying and selling accomplice, accounting for about 43% of the nation’s whole international commerce, Togurl Manmadli, a consultant of the United Nations Financial and Social Council (ECOSOC) and Azerbaijani political analyst on the UN workplace in Geneva, instructed Euronews. ^
“Vitality will proceed to be the cornerstone of this partnership. In 2025, Azerbaijan exported 12.9 billion cubic meters of pure fuel to Europe, accounting for greater than half of the full fuel exports and supplying about 8% of the EU’s pipeline fuel imports. These figures exhibit Azerbaijan’s rising position as a dependable contributor to Europe’s power safety.”
“I imagine that President von der Leyen’s go to will additional strengthen mutual belief and convey new momentum to a realistic and forward-looking partnership that serves the long-term pursuits of each Azerbaijan and the European Union,” Mamadli instructed Euronews forward of the go to.
The brand new initiative is made attainable by Azerbaijan and Armenia, who’ve signed a historic peace settlement after practically 4 a long time of tragic battle and are actually dedicated to constructing a standard financial future for each nations and the area.
The European Fee’s go to to each nations carries not solely a political message, but additionally a symbolism that the EU is partaking with each nations inside a framework of peace fairly than battle, with a view to future joint financial initiatives.
EU helps Armenia amid Russian strain
Mr von der Leyen is scheduled to journey to Yerevan for talks with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, and the EU has simply launched a bundle of assist for Armenia to counter what the EC calls “Russian financial coercion” and additional develop strategic EU-Armenian relations, after Mr Pashinyan secured a decisive pro-Western mandate in current elections.
“The president’s go to to Yerevan is his second in two months, following his go to for the European Political Neighborhood and the first-ever EU-Armenia summit in Could,” the European Fee mentioned in a press release.
The European Fee endorsed Mr. Pashinyan simply days earlier than a vital June 7 election, saying a assist bundle to assist him counter an onslaught of sanctions from Russia after Mr. Yerevan turned cautiously pro-Western and pro-EU.
Within the closing phases of his marketing campaign, Pashinyan rigorously balanced Armenia’s method towards Russia, saying that for now Armenia’s bid for EU membership was “theoretical.”
On the time, the EC introduced an help bundle containing monetary assist and sensible measures to assist Armenia’s agricultural commerce, after the Russian authorities launched an financial offensive limiting Armenia’s imports of varied fruits, greens, flowers, fish merchandise, wine, brandy and mineral water, and threatening to chop important Russian oil and fuel provides to Armenia.
