Minister of Justice Grigor Minasyan meets Commissioner for Justice of the European Commission Didier Reynders during official visit to Brussels

Minister of Justice Grigor Minasyan is on a working visit to the Kingdom of Belgium. The Minister's visit to Brussels began with a meeting with Commissioner for Justice of the European Commission Didier Reynders. Minister Minasyan, attaching importance to the high-level co-operation with the EU, mentioned that the introduction of European values and standards in domestic legal and institutional mechanisms by the Government — formed in 2018 in Armenia — has been declared as a cornerstone and absolute benchmark in the development of state policy and advancement of democratic mechanisms, and they are clear to see within the public administration and legal systems.

The Minister highly appreciated the EU's commitment to further deepen the co-operation with Armenia and added that adoption of the new Partnership Agenda will serve as a major impetus for expansion of the currently close co-operation in the justice sector. Grigor Minasyan also touched upon the results of the visit of the Fact-Finding Mission of the European Commission to Armenia, noting that it was a unique opportunity to address the current state of the Armenia-EU partnership, review implementation of CEPA and pinpoint new prospects for co-operation which were included in the agenda for the meeting of the EU-Armenia Partnership Council held on 13 February 2024. The Minister talked about the course of strategic reforms in the judicial and legal sector, in the anti-corruption field and in the field of human rights protection in Armenia. Grigor Minasyan informed that Armenia has initiated a transparent and inclusive process of drafting a new Constitution, which will provide the opportunity to have a new Constitution that will be fully acceptable for the people of the Republic of Armenia, addressing the existing challenges and bringing it into compliance with European standards. The Minister of Justice also highlighted the significant progress made in the judicial and legal sector for easing the workload of courts, increasing social guarantees and attractiveness of the profession, as well as strengthening the independence of judges.

The parties also touched upon the successes achieved in the electronic justice sector — the fully digitised civil proceedings and compulsory enforcement of judicial acts, as well as a number of other digital tools.

Talking about anti-corruption mechanisms and their continuous development, the Minister mentioned that the state policy in this direction is uncompromising, and the efforts for corruption prevention —ongoing. Expressing gratitude to the Minister for the meeting and the presentation of the sector-specific developments, Commissioner for Justice of the European Commission Didier Reynders highly appreciated the level of the EU-Armenia co-operation and the results of the joint efforts in the justice sector. The Commissioner attached special importance to the process of implementing Constitutional Reforms in Armenia and expressed the willingness of the EU to provide assistance in this direction as well. In his remarks, the Commissioner also attached importance to the ratification of the Rome Statute by Armenia, as well as continued expansion and implementation — on the part of Armenia — of the conventional mechanisms of the Council of Europe for the rule of law and human rights protection.

Issues related to guarantees for protection of the rights of persons forcibly displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh were also discussed during the meeting, and both parties highlighted the importance of the EU's ongoing support in this direction.

The parties also discussed the ongoing co-operation between the Ministry of Justice and the EU and the activities which, through the EU budget support and bilateral programmes, affect almost all the sectors considered. At the end of the meeting, the parties considered the directions for expansion of co-operation within the framework of the new Armenia-EU Partnership Agenda, as well as the upcoming high-level meetings, including the visit of Commissioner Reynders to Armenia at the invitation of the Minister.

The parties expressed confidence that the Armenia-EU co-operation will continue to make progress and help to record tangible results in the areas of rule of law, democracy, human rights protection and fundamental freedoms.