On 13 February, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan conducted a working visit to Germany ahead of the Munich Security conference. He met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Bundestag Speaker Wolfgang Schäuble, and held an address at the Friedrich Ebert Foundation. 

This was the third meeting between Pashinyan and Merkel in the last 18 months. Merkel noted with satisfaction that German-Armenian relations have “intensified” since her previous talks with Pashinyan in August 2018 in Yerevan and in February 2019 in Berlin. 

“We will continue to talk today about deepening bilateral relations,” she said in a statement to the press made at the start of their latest meeting. She said that one of the important issues is registering progress in Armenian-Azerbaijani relations. “It will be the topic of our today’s discussion,” Merkel said.

Merkel also spoke about the internal developments in Armenia. “There is a parliamentary democracy, elections have been held, and there is also a major renewal process … for example in the legal system. We naturally hope that Armenia will be very successful here because that's not an easy process.” “We are therefore very happy about your courage and your determination to follow this path,” she told Pashinyan.

Pashinyan stated that “Germany is a close friend and partner of Armenia and we feel the power of that friendship in both emotional and practical senses,” and that it is “one of the powerful bridges connecting Armenia to the European Union, European civilization and culture.” He thanked Germany and the EU for their “moral, political technical and financial assistance” to ongoing reforms announced by his administration. He said he will discuss his “reform agenda” with Merkel. 

The Armenian government released a statement after the talks stating that Merkel promised continued German “assistance to democratic reforms in Armenia”. It said that Pashinyan briefed her on his political team’s controversial decision to hold a referendum on April 5 for the possibility of dismissing seven of nine members of Armenia’s Constitutional Court (Caucasus Watch reported). Economic issues were also high on the agenda of the talks. Pashinyan urged the German companies to invest in various sectors of the Armenian economy, particularly emphasizing the agreement signed with the KfW bank on establishing TUMO center in Berlin. Issues related to cooperation in various areas, such as industry, infrastructures, tourism, information technology and education were also discussed.  

At the meeting with Schäuble, Pashinyan  emphasized that the main goal of his government is to ensure that democracy, as well as an independent and reliable judiciary in Armenia  become as irreversible as they are in Germany. “Your country is of great interest to us as an established parliamentary state, especially that Armenia shifted in 2018 from semi-presidential government to parliamentary republic,” he said.

On behalf of Germany, Schäuble expressed support for judicial reforms and the process of democratization in Armenia, stressing that Berlin is closely following the developments in Yerevan. Pashinyan also emphasized the importance of finding new formulas for cooperation between the Eurasian Economic Union and the European Union. 

In his address to the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES) in Berlin, Pashinyan spoke on the current challenges Armenia is facing. He spoke about the Constitutional Court (CC) reform in the country, saying that Armenia would have the CC “envisioned from our constitution in 2035, as a result of certain manipulations“. According to Pashinyan, although the Constitution stipulates that CC judges can serve for 12 years, as a result of these legislative manipulations, if nothing changes, the majority of CC members shall be in office for 25-30 years. He added that the judicial reform is now on the National Assembly’s agenda, according to which all newly appointed judges will pass an integrity check at the Corruption Prevention Commission.

Pashinyan also spoke on the Amulsar gold mine project in the country, where the last developments took place in September 2019 (Caucasus Watch reported). “I personally, as the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, am equally interested and equally not interested in having this mine operated. I am interested if it turns out that the operation of the mine will not cause irreversible environmental damage to Armenia. I am not interested if it turns out that the operation of this mine will cause environmental disasters in Armenia. Not only am I not interested, but also in such a situation, I simply cannot permit… [that mine to operate]. It is another thing that we, because of certain situations, because of public distrust, cannot move forward in getting the answers to these questions. If the environmental risks are found to be manageable, I will support that project; if it turns out they are not manageable, I will not support that project,“ he said.

Pashinyan also touched on the issue of Armenia’s trade relations. “Armenia has two major trade and economic partners: one is the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and the other is the EU. But when we look at the trade lines, we see that Armenia mainly exports finished products and less mineral resources to the EAEU territory, whereas Armenia exports a lot of mineral resources and few ready products to the EU territory; this image needs to be changed. Armenia should export more finished products to the EU than it does now,“ he stated.

He also spoke on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, stating that the resolution of the conflict can only be accomplished with specific security guarantees that are currently absent. “Even assuming that some Armenian government should take unilateral actions, this will not solve the problem, but rather aggravate it. Azerbaijan likes to talk about territories, but it’s important to understand that we are talking about security,” he said. “As for my statement “Karabakh is Armenia, period”, there is a very clear and specific explanation for this. Armenia has stated that it will view Azerbaijan’s attack on Karabakh as an attack on the Republic of Armenia,” Pashinyan stated. 

The co-chair of FES and member of its Chairmanship Council, Klara Geywitz stated that Germany has good relations with Armenia and considers the opportunities for deepening cooperation to be important. Klara Geywitz noted that Armenia can become an appealing country for foreign investors. But she added that the new government is confronted with the old burden, and that it is not easy to achieve change, but that Germany can contribute to these developments.

Pashinyan also visited the Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry, where he had a working luncheon with the Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy Thomas Bareiss, Chief Executive Officer for Foreign Trade and Member of the Executive Board of the Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry Volker Treier and other members of the organization. He spoke about the recent developments in Armenia’s economy and the government’s efforts to improve the Armenian business environment. Nikol Pashinyan dwelt on the ongoing programs and the government’s priorities in industry, tourism, agriculture and IT. He underscored that his government is keen to develop economic partnerships with Germany and attract German capital into Armenia’s economy. The speakers discussed ways of implementing such joint projects as they might boost bilateral commercial ties. They highlighted the importance of business forums in terms of strengthening ties and cooperation between the business communities. 

The Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mntsakanyan also came with Pashinyan. Mnatsakanyan met with Minister of State for Europe at the German Federal Foreign Office Michael Roth. The parties discussed a broad range of issues related to the EU-Armenia partnership agenda and attached importance to the role of the EU-Armenia Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement. Emphasizing that people are the main beneficiaries of the partnership, Minister Mnatsakanyan attached great importance to the implementation of activities for the launch of the visa liberalization dialogue.