EUROMARFOR is a non-standing naval force, established on 15 May 1995 by France, Spain, Italy and Portugal to accomplish the main missions defined by the Petersberg Declaration, including maritime surveillance, humanitarian assistance and evacuation of populations, along with peacekeeping or peacemaking, and crisis management.
The Commander in Chief of the Italian Fleet - current Commander of the European Maritime Force - Admiral Donato Marzano, welcomed his French, Portuguese and Spanish counterparts to discuss about the present and future of the European Maritime Force.
The two-day meetings dealt with future commitments and development of the maritime force, as well as on its approach to capacity building involving North African partner countries. Special attention was focused on Maritime Situational Awareness, which is the capability of monitoring marine vessel traffic in order to detect, identify and counter any risk of terrorism and illegal activities.
The importance of the meeting was also underlined by the intervention by the Italian Chief of Defence, General Claudio Graziano.
Over the years, EUROMARFOR has shown significant effectiveness and flexibility, both through the conduct of training events and participation in real operations including Operation Coherent Behaviour in Eastern Mediterranean, Resolute Behaviour in the Indian Ocean, Impartial Behaviour in Eastern Mediterranean, the UNIFIL Maritime Task Force off the coast of Lebanon, and European Union's counterpiracy Operation Atalanta in the Indian Ocean.
Italy took over the operational command of EUROMARFOR in September 2015. |
