France calls for Armenia to benefit from the European Peace Facility

The European Union and its member states can “do more” to help Armenia and send “a clear signal”, said French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, who also announced on Tuesday that France would be delivering “military equipment”.

“I have made an official written request to the High Representative of the European Union, Josep Borrell, […] to include Armenia in the scope of beneficiaries of the European Peace Facility [EPF]”, announced Colonna on Tuesday evening at a joint press conference with her Armenian counterpart in Yerevan.

The EPF is the EU’s off-budget financial instrument to replace member states’ arms donations provided to Ukraine and partner countries.

As for Armenia, the French minister also asked Borrell “to increase the number of staff in the European Observation Mission and to strengthen its mandate so that this mission is even more useful than it is”.

“But we [Europeans] can do more”, the minister added.

Colonna indicated that France’s “effort” was also “European”, hoping that “the European Union and its member states will now send out a clear signal” in support of Armenia.

A signal aimed at “all those who would be tempted to challenge the territorial integrity of Armenia. Any such action would be met with strong reactions. Let there be no doubt about that”, she added. “We [Europeans] must affirm this together”.

“I also hope that we can count on the support of other friends, partners and allies. And in saying that, I am, of course, thinking of the United States of America”, Colonna added.

After the meeting of EU foreign affairs ministers in Kyiv on Monday, the head of French diplomacy said she had noted a shift in favour of Armenia on the part of certain European partners. “I think I can say that the tragic events that have just unfolded in Nagorno-Karabakh are leading a certain number of our partners to change their vision”.

She hoped this would “bring them closer to our points of view and to the unity that is necessary among Europeans”, with the objective remaining a “political solution and a fair and lasting peace agreement”.

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Delivery of military equipment

From a bilateral Franco-Armenian perspective, the Minister also announced that “France has given its agreement to the conclusion of future contracts forged with Armenia, which will enable the delivery of military equipment to Armenia so that it can ensure its defence”.

When asked whether this was an arms sale or a non-returnable shipment, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to Euractiv’s requests at the time of publication of this article.

These announcements and the visit by the head of French diplomacy come in the wake of Azerbaijan’s military operation against the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which resulted in the displacement of “more than 100,000 Armenian refugees” to Armenia. “The situation in Nagorno-Karabakh […] is a flagrant violation of international law”, the French minister reiterated, assuring Armenia of France’s “constant support”.

This support “will continue and will be shown again if necessary”.

The response, in addition to humanitarian support, is also “political”, said the minister, according to whom France “has been more active than others and for longer” alongside Armenia.

Colonna said France is working on “a draft [UN Security Council] resolution to guarantee a permanent international presence in Nagorno-Karabakh”.

The minister’s visit was also “a way of demonstrating France’s extreme vigilance against any attempt to threaten or consider undermining Armenia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”, she concluded.

(Davide Basso | Euractiv.fr)