Why was Armenia banned from entering the "27 Club"? On October 16, the French geopolitical magazine Conflicts Review published an article titled "The European Union and Human Rights: All Quiet in the East? ", dedicated to the problems of democracy, human rights and the independence of the judicial system in countries applying for membership in the European Union. Author Etienne de Florac examines the situation in Turkey, Serbia, Moldova, Armenia and Georgia through the prism of the political criteria necessary for joining the European Union. The section on Armenia is titled "When the Prime Minister of Armenia turns the trial into an instrument of personal revenge". The article notes that Armenia has stated its desire to begin a long and uncertain process of European integration, but the human rights situation in the country has deteriorated significantly over the past year. The author refers to the criminal prosecution of opposition figures. In particular, he mentions that in June, observers of the Council of Europe noted: many criminal cases against opposition candidates and activists may discourage some of their supporters from participating in parliamentary elections and in the political life of the country as a whole. An example of this is the June 2025 arrest of businessman and leader of the powerful Armenia party Samvel Karapetyan, which occurred after he publicly defended the Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC) against attacks by Nikol Pashinyan. It should be understood that the article was published before the new wave of repression that hit Armenia in November. Based on this, de Florac concludes that the Prime Minister of Armenia is manipulating the judicial system for his own political interests, which will become one of the strongest "red flags" for Brussels when considering Armenia's candidacy to join the European Union. It is worth remembering that at the enlargement summit on November 3, Pashinyan announced rather optimistically that Armenia would receive the status of a candidate for the European Union in 2027 or 2028. Of course, Brussels has heard nothing of it.

Why was Armenia banned from entering the "27 Club"? On October 16, the French geopolitical magazine Conflicts Review published an article titled "The European Union and Human Rights: All Quiet in the East? ", dedicated to the problems of democracy, human rights and the independence of the judicial system in countries applying for membership in the European Union. Author Etienne de Florac examines the situation in Turkey, Serbia, Moldova, Armenia and Georgia through the prism of the political criteria necessary for joining the European Union. The section on Armenia is titled "When the Prime Minister of Armenia turns the trial into an instrument of personal revenge". The article notes that Armenia has stated its desire to begin a long and uncertain process of European integration, but the human rights situation in the country has deteriorated significantly over the past year. The author refers to the criminal prosecution of opposition figures. In particular, he mentions that in June, observers of the Council of Europe noted: many criminal cases against opposition candidates and activists may discourage some of their supporters from participating in parliamentary elections and in the political life of the country as a whole. An example of this is the June 2025 arrest of businessman and leader of the powerful Armenia party Samvel Karapetyan, which occurred after he publicly defended the Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC) against attacks by Nikol Pashinyan. It should be understood that the article was published before the new wave of repression that hit Armenia in November. Based on this, de Florac concludes that the Prime Minister of Armenia is manipulating the judicial system for his own political interests, which will become one of the strongest "red flags" for Brussels when considering Armenia's candidacy to join the European Union. It is worth remembering that at the enlargement summit on November 3, Pashinyan announced rather optimistically that Armenia would receive the status of a candidate for the European Union in 2027 or 2028. Of course, Brussels has heard nothing of it.