As dozens of European leaders converged in Yerevan this week for a summit of the European Political Community (EPC), it was French President Emmanuel Macron who was having the time of his life as he used the occasion to proclaim Armenia’s “new era” with Europe, now that peace is settling in the South Caucasus.
Having arrived early on Sunday evening, Macron received nothing short of a hero’s welcome, as Armenians recognised their historic moment of closer relations with the continent backed by France after decades of tumult in Russia’s orbit.
The French president was seen confidently strolling down the main avenue together with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, as a large group of onlookers surrounded him and broke into an impromptu rendition of La Marseillaise — a sign of gratitude to their biggest EU supporter, further fuelled by the large and powerful Armenian diaspora in France.
The French president was also stopped and asked to take photos with babies: a time-honoured ritual of democratic politics that seemingly went out of fashion in recent years.
On Monday, Macron further caught the attention of passers-by as he went on his morning jog, security team in tow.
To top it off, Macron was then seen with a microphone next to a piano, breaking into a not-too-shabby rendition of Charles Aznavour’s La Boheme, with none other than Pashinyan on drums in an impromptu jam session.
If he has been acting like he is living the dream, it is because he just might be.
After all, the EPC is a baby of his own: the loose grouping of all European states bar Russia and Belarus was conceived by Macron himself in 2022 in the aftermath of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
It has met twice a year since at leaders’ level, and this week’s summit in Yerevan was the first held in the South Caucasus.
Macron seized the moment to hail Yerevan’s break from its past, stating Armenia has consciously chosen the path towards a Europe “from Iceland to the Caucasus”.
“Eight years ago, many saw Armenia as a country heavily dependent on Russia, with its security entirely in Russian hands,” Macron said at the summit.
“After the Velvet Revolution, its policy of peace, and its turn toward Europe, we are now witnessing the opening of a new era,” he added.
“This Europe which goes from Iceland to the Caucasus, this large Europe, which brings together the European Political Community, this is what enables talking about the fight against drug trafficking, energy solidarity and connectivity, protecting our democracies from external interference and fake information, and common defence and security solutions,” Macron concluded.
Trouble at home, fandom abroad
Macron’s popularity abroad stands in sharp contrast to his abysmal support at home. YouGov’s January 2026 tracker found that only 16% of those polled in France had a favourable view of the French president.
The Ifop barometer from January showed a slight uptick — his popularity rose from 17% to 23% between two waves of polling that month — yet it remained historically low.
Meanwhile, a Euroscope survey in February 2026 found Macron was the most popular leader in the EU overall, with 46% of respondents across the bloc expressing a positive opinion of him.
That European standing owes much to his posture since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, when Macron emerged as one of the most vocal advocates for European autonomy and has pushed consistently for the EU to shoulder a greater share of its own defence.
His approval among EU audiences spiked in early 2025 when he publicly refused to rule out sending European troops to Ukraine, a stance echoed across the continent despite pushback from some of his allies.
Indicatively, Ifop showed that support for Macron in France briefly reached 31%, as voters rallied behind a president seen as standing firm against Russian pressure.
Originally a political outsider, Macron came to power in 2017 by decisively winning the French presidency at 39, becoming the embodiment of Europe’s rejection of the populist surge that had swept the US and the UK.
A series of crises at home, including the Gilets Jaunes protests and his push for pension reform that also saw massive demonstrations in French streets, saw his stock dip to a historic low comparable to that of François Hollande, who bottomed out at around 4% in 2016, and Nicolas Sarkozy at his lowest points.
With his centrist politics ranging from unimpressive to grating, France’s once most promising politician’s career nearly petered out. Yet abroad, he is not yet done.
Not mic-shy
Macron’s choice to sing a song by Aznavour during the state dinner — a French music icon with Armenian roots and arguably the most beloved figure shared by the two countries — was no accident.
In Armenia, Macron has been the driving force behind Yerevan’s accelerating pivot away from Russia and toward Europe, which the Pashinyan government has embraced as its defining foreign policy choice.
Pashinyan came to power in 2018 through a popular uprising that swept out a Russia-aligned government, and has since pursued a careful but increasingly explicit reorientation toward the West.
Macron further pressed the message home in Yerevan this week, telling members of Armenia’s French community on Monday that “Armenia has indeed made the choice … to break free from this constraint and turn towards Europe.”
Armenia has been building ties with Europe for years, amid frustration in the country over Moscow’s perceived failure to protect it during conflicts with neighbouring Azerbaijan.
Russia still maintains a military base on Armenian soil and Yerevan has not formally left Moscow’s faux NATO, the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), but the disillusionment with the Kremlin now runs deep.
Macron said that it was France that showed support to Armenia during its conflicts with Azerbaijan — now over following a historic peace deal between the two former belligerents in 2025.
“Russia was not there, any more than it is there for Venezuela when there are problems,” Macron stated, yet insisting it was time to move on from the region’s conflict-riddled past and that negotiations — in which he said he would participate and speak to both sides — “are key”.
Macron will also head home with a medal pinned to his chest after exchanging the highest state honours with his Armenian counterparts.
The French president awarded Pashinyan and Armenian President Vahagn Khachaturyan the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, while Armenia conferred its Order of Glory on him in return.