Lacote: EU mission is deployed on territory of Armenia without  prejudice to OSCE mission

ArmInfo. The EU mission is being deployed on the territory of Armenia along the border with Azerbaijan without prejudice to the OSCE mission, around which  discussions are also underway.

Former Ambassador of France to Armenia  Jonathan Lacote wrote about this on his Facebook page.  In this vein,  the diplomat recalled that on October 17, the EU Council decided to  send up to 40 EU experts to Armenia to monitor the international  border with Azerbaijan in order to monitor, analyze and provide  information on the current situation on this border.  " This decision  follows the quadrilateral meeting between President Aliyev, Prime  Minister Pashinyan, President Emmanuel Macron and President Charles  Michel held on October 6 in Prague.

By letter received by the High Representative of the Union for  Foreign Affairs and Security Policy on 22 September 2022, the Foreign  Minister of the Republic of Armenia invited the EU to deploy a  civilian CSDP Mission in Armenia," the diplomat stated.  According to  him, In order to ensure a swift deployment of the EU monitoring  capacity, it was decided that the monitoring experts will be  temporarily deployed from the European Union Monitoring Mission in  Georgia (EUMM Georgia). The EUMM is taking operational steps so that  its monitoring capacity in Georgia is not impacted.

" The objective of this mission is to contribute to reporting on the  situation along the border, in the context of the discussions Armenia  and Azerbaijan, on its delimitation and demarcation Major progress  was reached in Prague when Armenia and Azerbaijan confirmed their  commitment to the Charter of the United Nations and the Alma Ata 1991  Declaration through which both recognize each other's territorial  integrity and sovereignty.  On this occasion, the two States  confirmed that the Alma Ata declaration of 1991 would be a basis for  the work of the border delimitation commissions and that the next  meeting of the border commissions would take place in Brussels by the  end of October," Lacote added.  In this vein, he stressed that the EU  mission is deployed without prejudice to an OSCE mission, which is  also under discussion.

"It is important not to confuse this mission with an intervention  mission that requires the consent of both parties or a UN mandate;  with a military mission, since the defense of the territory of  Armenia is primarily the responsibility of the armed forces of this  country and the states and organizations with which the RA has  defense agreements. 

"It is important not to confuse this mission with:  - an  interposition mission, which requires an agreement from both parties  or a mandate from the United Nations - a military mission, the  protection of the Armenian territory being primarily the  responsibility of the armed forces of this country and the States and  organizations with which Armenia has concluded defense agreements.

The presence of the European Union on the ground will contribute to  ensure better fact finding and better consideration by the entire  international community of the security issues prevailing in the  region.

In Parliament, Mrs. Catherine Colonna, Minister for Europe and  Foreign Affairs, indicated that France:  - stands in solidarity with  Armenia in the face of violations of its territorial integrity -  calls for the return of Azerbaijani forces to their initial positions  - supports the resumption of negotiations between the two countries.

" At each stage of the setting up of this mission, France has been on  the initiative alongside the European institutions," Lacote summed  up.