On Thursday 15 December, a senior European official told a small group of journalists, including EUROPE, that the EU was considering establishing a fully-fledged CSDP mission in Armenia to take over from the two-month border monitoring mission, whose mandate ends on 19 December (see EUROPE 13044/13). The 40-person mission was established following an agreement between the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan on 6 October (see EUROPE 13038/3).
The end of the mission “does not mean that there is no need for a European presence”, the source explained. He said the mission contributed to a sense of security and stability, demonstrated the EU’s commitment and interest and gave the Union a better understanding of the security situation.
The EU intends to send a planning mission to explore what the future EU presence in Armenia might be, and also in Azerbaijan, if the latter country so wishes. A team is expected to arrive in the next few days. “There will be a transition team, so there will be no vacuum”, the official promised.
The aim could be to have a new mission that could also mediate between Azerbaijan and Armenia, as the EU mission in Georgia does with the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism.
Asked by EUROPE, the European official said Baku’s agreement was not required to set up the mission - which would be on Armenian territory - but that it would depend on the Member States. “All have to agree and some may be more reluctant, if they sense a strong pushback from Azerbaijan. At the same time, there is a strong understanding that this is important and necessary”, he explained. He said there were indications that Azerbaijan expected the EU to be transparent about its intentions to pursue a similar course of action to what it was currently doing. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)