EU monitoring mission in Georgia extended for another year

EU foreign ministers said in the decision that EUMM “has a countrywide mandate and called for unhindered access of EUMM to Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which has so far been denied.”

EU also called on the parties “to fully comply” with their commitments and to withdraw all military forces to the positions held prior to the outbreak of hostilities. EUMM said for number of times in the past that there was no evidence of the Georgian troops build-up in the areas adjacent to breakaway South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Involvement of non-EU member states in the mission has not been discussed during the foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels on July 27, Reuters reported.

“It is premature to discuss whether to change or integrate a new mandate or the number of participants, particularly non-EU states,” Reuters reported quoting Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini as saying after the meeting.