EU to Increase Mission in Georgia

The European Union will send two civilian representatives in support of its special representative to Georgia, Reuters reported, quoting an unnamed EU diplomat on March 17.

This modest reinforcement of the EU mission to Georgia comes after  a call by Tbilisi to replace the OSCE border monitoring mission, which was suspended after Russia vetoed it, with EU observers.

However, as Reuters reports quoting the EU Diplomat, the European Union is ?undecided on whether to risk Moscow’s displeasure by offering to monitor the border with Russia.?

“We shall start now by deploying a small team of experts in support of our special representative,” unnamed EU diplomat said.

He also said the staff of two would be in civilian attire and have a mandate to cover all of Georgia, including near the Russian border. No other details about their mandate was reported.

According to this report, the new members of the EU, particularly the Baltic States, are actively pushing a larger role in border monitoring for the EU, despite Russia?s objections, while other EU members are more sensitive to Russia?s concerns.

“It is very difficult to get a consensus on this,” Reuters quotes another EU diplomat as saying.

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