Answer given by Vice-President Mogherini on behalf of the Commission

15.3.2018

The status quo in Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is unsustainable. Conflict resolution can only be an outcome of substantive, peaceful negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The EU supports the efforts of the Co-Chairs of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group toward peace, which is the only internationally recognised format for the task. The EU welcomes the Co-Chairs' revised concept paper on the expansion of the Office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, which would increase the number of monitors on the ground. It is encouraging that the Foreign Affairs Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed in principle to this expansion in Krakow on 18 January 2018. Once finalised, it would be the first security-related confidence-building measure implemented after the agreements between the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan at the summits in Vienna and St Petersburg in 2016 and Geneva in 2017. Other decisions agreed at those summits, including on an incident investigation mechanism, should also be implemented.

The EU continues, particularly through its Special Representative, to support the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, inter alia by regular meetings with the leaderships of Armenia and Azerbaijan, where the EU messages are reinforced. The EU also funds the European Partnership for the Peaceful Resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict (EPNK) initiative to facilitate people-to-people contacts between the sides to overcome the divide, which can contribute to conflict transformation.