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European Political Community Summit
The 8th Summit of the European Political Community was held on 4 May 2026 in Yerevan, Armenia. The European Political Community is an intergovernmental forum that facilitates political and strategic dialogue about the future of Europe. It holds biannual summits.
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The 8th Summit of the European Political Community was held on 4 May 2026 in Yerevan, Armenia, the first EPC summit hosted in the South Caucasus. The European Political Community (EPC) is an intergovernmental forum, created in 2022 after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, that meets twice a year and includes all European states except Belarus, Russia and the Vatican. More than 40 leaders attended, and Canada took part for the first time as the first non-European guest. Discussions centred on Ukraine, energy security and relations with Russia, and the summit was followed by the first EU-Armenia Summit. Moscow responded with criticism of Armenia's hosting of the event.
Armenia was announced as the host of the 8th summit of the European Political Community on 23 May 2025, following the 7th European Political Community Summit held on 2 October 2025 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan announced that the summit would be held on Monday, 4 May 2026, in Yerevan.
The 8th EPC summit was expected to be the largest international political event hosted by Armenia since its independence, with 48 heads of state and government from member states and partner countries expected to attend, together with invited delegates. Alongside the 8th EPC summit, three other high‑level events were planned on 4 and 5 May 2026, including the inaugural EU-Armenia Summit, the state visit of the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, and the Yerevan Dialogue international forum.
At the first ever EU-Armenia summit, the President of the European Council, António Costa, together with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, will represent the EU, and the Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will represent Armenia.
The event comes at an important moment for Armenia, given the Joint Declaration reached between Armenia and Azerbaijan on 8 August 2025 in the presence of the President of the United States, Donald Trump, which has been further welcomed by the EU, their joint support for Armenia's Crossroads of Peace initiative and the "Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity" (TRIPP) connectivity project in the territory of Armenia, as well as the alignment with two EPC strategic topics, including connectivity and addressing evolving security dynamics and regional challenges.
A state visit by the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, will take place shortly after the solemn opening ceremony of the new building of the Embassy of Armenia in France, held in Paris on 28 April 2026 with the participation of Armenia's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ararat Mirzoyan, and France's Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot. As part of the state visit, Macron, accompanied by the Prime Minister of Armenia, will formalize a strategic partnership, visit Tsitsernakaberd and the Matenadaran, meet with the President of Armenia, Vahagn Khachaturyan, travel to Gyumri to honour the memory of the victims of the 1988 earthquake, and conclude the visit with the concert titled "Musical Bridge: Armenia-France" in Gyumri.
EU relations with Armenia are based on the EU-Armenia Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA), effective since 2021, and the Strategic Agenda for the EU-Armenia Partnership, which were adopted in 2025.
The 8th EPC summit is to focus on four strategic topics:
The summit was scheduled to take place on Monday 04 May 2026 at the Karen Demirchyan Complex in Yerevan, Armenia. An official statement issued by the Police of Armenia on 01 May 2026, operating under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Armenia, announced that security and traffic‑control measures would be in place from 4 to 5 May 2026 for the 8th EPC summit, the 1st EU-Armenia summit, the state visit of the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, and the Yerevan Dialogue international forum, considered unprecedented since Armenia's independence owing to the scale of the anticipated high‑level attendance.
The summit was attended by the heads of state and government of the member states and partner countries participating in the European Political Community, together with the President of the European Council, the President of the European Commission, the President of the European Parliament and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. Mark Carney, the Prime Minister of Canada, was the first representative to attend from a non-European country. Among the invited delegates, the Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, and the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Alain Berset, will travel to Yerevan to attend the 8th EPC summit and are expected to hold multiple bilateral meetings with leaders present at the EPC, including with the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev did not attend the summit in person but gave remarks via video link.
The EPC is an informal format that does not produce binding decisions, and the summit's practical results were largely bilateral. Keir Starmer became the first sitting British prime minister to visit Armenia and signed a joint declaration on a strategic partnership with Nikol Pashinyan; Pashinyan and Croatia's Andrej Plenković signed a strategic dialogue document, and Emmanuel Macron, who combined the summit with a state visit, announced that France and Armenia would form a strategic partnership.
Ukraine was a major theme. Macron and Starmer co-hosted a meeting of leaders with Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines to review work on support for Ukraine, and Zelenskyy held bilateral talks with Starmer, Petteri Orpo, Jonas Gahr Støre and Andrej Babiš. Ursula von der Leyen and Starmer discussed the United Kingdom's participation in the EU's €90 billion loan for Ukraine. Chancellor Friedrich Merz did not attend and was represented by Macron. Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev did not travel to Yerevan and addressed the meeting by video link.
Open press conferences were not held at the summit, a restriction RFE/RL reported had been imposed by the host. An Armenian opposition movement held a march in Yerevan during the summit. A UK parliamentary committee document noted that Armenia's position between Russia and Iran brought the war in Ukraine and the situation in the Middle East into focus at the summit. A Gnomon Wise analysis examined the summit's implications for Armenia's rapprochement with Europe and its distancing from Russia.
Russia said Armenia would face "political and economic" consequences for aligning with the EU, and Russian political analyst Andrey Bystritsky described the summit as a demarche against Moscow that was not meant to be a decision-making platform.
The next EPC summits are scheduled for Ireland in November 2026 and Switzerland in April 2027.
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