EU ambassadors in Brussels hours ago approved a decision on the EU civilian mission in Armenia. The decision will allow European observers to remain in Armenia’s border regions for another two years, until February 19, 2027.

According to Rikard Jozwiak, Europe editor at RFE/RL, the EU has left the mission’s mandate unchanged. The mission was established two years ago to reduce the number of incidents in Armenia’s border and conflict-affected regions, reduce the level of danger for the population living in those regions, and thereby contribute to the normalization of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations on the ground.

According to the draft decision, the composition and number of observers will remain unchanged: 165 international and 44 Armenian staff. According to the EU mission in Armenia, this decision should also be approved shortly by the foreign ministers of the EU member states, which is formal since the ambassadors of these countries today expressed the point of view of their governments by voting in favor of the draft.

According to the official statement, the mission's observation zone extends along the entire length of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, including the Nakhichevan section.

“Given the significant size of the territory, the mission is not able to observe every incident taking place along the border with the resources at its disposal,” the monitoring mission announced after its deployment, detailing that “patrols strive to visit the places where incidents have occurred and then report on them to the EU headquarters, based on information received from open sources and reliable eyewitnesses.”