EU appoints new Head of its Monitoring Mission in Georgia

01/02/2023

16:33

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The Council of the European Union has appointed Dimitrios Karabalis, a Greek diplomat, as the new Head of mission for the EU Monitoring mission in Georgia, under the decision of the Political and Security Committee, the Council announced on Tuesday.

Dimitrios Karabalis is currently the Director for Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, South Caucasus, and Central Asia in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Greece, and his mandate as the Head of EUMM Georgia will run from 1 February until 14 December 2023.

The Greek diplomat succeeds Polish Marek Szczygieł, who has been in charge of the mission since 2020.

EUMM Georgia was deployed in October 2008, following the EU-mediated ceasefire Agreement, putting an end to the war between Russia and Georgia in August of that year. However, Russia and de facto authorities have prevented its access to the occupied regions.

The mission’s mandate consists of stabilization, normalization and confidence building, as well as reporting to the EU in order to inform European policy-making and thus contribute to the future EU engagement in the region.

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