New civil mission of EU to Armenia amid unchanging goal of Pashinyan-Macron tandem
By Trend
The game around the civilian mission sent by the European Union (EU) to Armenia has entered a new stage. The EU released a statement on decision to send new mission in a different format to the region.
According to the statement, the EU Council has already received the consent of the Armenian authorities to return of the mission, which expired on December 20, 2022, to the region.
"The EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia (EUMM Georgia) will deploy a transitional planning assistance team in Armenia to enhance the EU’s awareness of the security situation, and contribute to the planning and preparation of a possible CSDP [Civil Security and Defense Policy] mission in the country,” the statement said.
“The planning assistance team is also expected to support the President of the European Council Charles Michel in the EU-facilitated normalization process between Armenia and Azerbaijan,” said the statement.
The decision to send a border mission to Armenia was made during a meeting between the leaders of Azerbaijan, France, the Council of the European Union and Armenia on October 6 this year in Prague. The mission arrived in Armenia on October 19.
The mission was deployed close to Armenia's international border with Azerbaijan (on the Armenian side) in order to monitor, analyze and accountability for the situation. However, the course of events has shown that the mission has many more goals, including some hidden ones.
What was the hidden purpose of the mission?
It’s known that the main initiator to establish the mission in the first place, along with Armenia, was France, because Paris, using the civil mission of the EU, sought to enter the region, gain foothold in Armenia and distant Moscow from Yerevan. One of the goals was to inflict blow on the accelerating Azerbaijani-Armenian peace talks. That is, the civilian mission, which is under the control of France, didn’t have the goal of contributing to the normalization of Azerbaijani-Armenian relations.
Baku didn’t agree to the mission’s deployment on the territory of Azerbaijan, understanding that a French-controlled mission would in no way serve to establish stability in the region. Rather, it would serve the political and military goals of Paris.
It can be assumed that Azerbaijan won’t cooperate with the new border mission and won’t recognize the reports prepared by this monitoring team.
Baku has its reasons not to recognize the new mission:
1. It’s known that this mission was sent to Armenia on the basis of a statement signed at the quadrilateral meeting in Prague. This statement had no clause on the return of the mission to the region. For this reason, the continuation of its activities on the border is contrary to the quadrilateral statement;
2. The timing of the stay of the previous EU mission in the region was precisely negotiated and agreed upon. There is no information on the length of stay of the current civilian mission close to the border, in the statement;
3. Most likely, Azerbaijan wasn't informed about the matters of the new mission that the EU intends to send to the region. The statement of the Council of the European Union also noted that this issue has been agreed only with the Armenian authorities;
4. When analyzing France's plans for the South Caucasus, it becomes clear that the renewal of the border mission is a new game of pro-Armenian forces in Brussels and Paris.
All the above facts indicate that the new mission, controlled by France and not recognized by Azerbaijan, won’t contribute to peace in the region. Therefore, Baku's cooperation with the new EU mission won’t make sense.
It can be assumed that this mission is beneficial only for Pashinyan [Armenian Prime Minister] and Macron [French president], because, as follows from the above statement of the EU, the new mission was given a mandate to study security issues in Armenia. This mandate once again demonstrates the true goal of the EU's mission.
Apparently, Yerevan and Paris, using the example of the EU, are already creating conditions for the entry of Western institutions into Armenia.
Besides,in accordance with the new mandate, the Europeans got the opportunity to enter the state structures of Armenia, and to determine the country's defense policy. For this reason, it can be assumed that the number of servicemen participating in the new border mission will far exceed 40 people.
All this proves that France is using the EU mission as a tool to deploy military force in the region, inflict blow on the peace process and withdraw Moscow from Yerevan. However, the purpose of the civilian mission, created at the meeting organized by the EU, was to promote peace in the region. Unfortunately, the opposite is observed, and this undermines the trust existing between the EU and Azerbaijan.
A reasonable question arises: is the EU leadership so weak that the French authorities are so frankly seeking to break the leadership's ties with Azerbaijan? The leadership of the union likely knows the answer to this question.
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