On December 19, the European Union’s (EU) High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, announced that the EU would “prepare the ground for a possible longer-term EU mission in Armenia” after the completion of the activities of the civilian monitoring group. Based on the agreement reached among leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia, France, and the European Council (EC) on the sidelines of the first gathering of the European Political Community, the EU Council deployed up to 40 monitoring experts on October 20 along the Armenian side of the international border with Azerbaijan with the objective of “monitoring, analyzing, and reporting on the situation in the region.” According to Borrell, the deployment of 40 civilian monitoring experts has proved to be effective by contributing to confidence-building measures in the region. 

On January 23, the Council announced the establishment of the new civilian EU mission in Armenia (EUMA) as a part of the Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP). The mission’s objectives include contributing to the stability in the border areas of Armenia with Azerbaijan, confidence-building, and help to boost the normalization efforts between the two neighboring countries. The mission was initiated in response to the invitation for a civilian EU mission from the Foreign Minister of Armenia to Borrell on December 27. EUMA has a two-year mandate, and its responsibilities will be to conduct routine patrolling along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, as well as reporting on the situation, which will contribute to the EU’s understanding of the situation on the ground.

The reactions to the deployment of another EU observer mission to Armenia have been mixed. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had previously praised the EU's efforts to de-escalate the tension between Armenia and Azerbaijan by sending the 40-member monitoring mission. With the growing public outcry against Russia, a series of protests have been held in Armenia, demanding the country’s withdrawal from the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and seeking support from the West instead. The reports of a potential deployment of another EU mission to Armenia were met with discontent from Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov. During a press conference, Lavrov stated that instead of moving forward with the fully ready mission of the CSTO, Armenia’s preference to invite the EU to monitor its border with Azerbaijan, without the consent of Azerbaijan, could be counterproductive to the overall peace process. In turn, the Azerbaijani side seems to have similar views on the matter: on January 10, during his interview with an Azerbaijani TV channel, President Aliyev stated that the deployment of a new EU observer mission to Armenia could potentially have a negative impact on the Azerbaijani-Armenian negotiations mediated by the European Union. Aliyev also claimed that sending a new observer mission to Armenia without Azerbaijan’s consent could threaten the security of the region. 

The EU has been one of the more active outside actors in providing an effective mediation platform to achieve sustainable peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Despite the EU’s decision to send a fully-fledged civilian observer mission being welcomed warmly by Armenia, the future implications of the new mission are yet to be seen, given the explicit dissatisfaction from both Russia and Azerbaijan.