Ministerio de Defensa Ejército de tierra
Ministerio de Defensa Ejército de tierra
Ministerio de Defensa Ejército de tierra
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Spain is leading the EU Battle Group

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Number: 42

During the second half of 2017, Spain will lead the European Rapid Operational Force (Eufor), named the EuropeanUnionBattleGroup Package (EUBG Package)

The EUBG Package for the second half of 2017 will have around 2,500 troops, of which around 2,000 will be Spanish and the other 500 will be mainly from Portugal and Italy.

The Spanish leadership and its commitment to the European Union will reach strategic, operational and tactical levels, as it will be able to assume the strategic command of the EUBG Force from the Operational Headquarters (OHQ) and the command of the EUBG Package, which includes the Military Headquarters that deploys the ground forces, Force Headquarters (FHQ), and the Batallion (EUBG) itself.
 

España comanda el Battle Group

Spain is leading the EU Battle Group (Foto:CGTAD/Brigada Aragón I)

The OHQ will be made up of soldiers of different nationalities, who will be posted in the NATO Rapid Deployable Spanish Corps (NRDC-SP) situated in Bétera (Valencia), and personnel from the French OHQ.

The European Union has certified the facilities of five of this type of military headquarters, located in Mont Valérien (France), Postdam (Germany), Larissa (Greece), Rome (Italy) and Northwood (United Kingdom). In this way, in case of the activation of the European Rapid Operational Force (Eufor), the Chief of the NRDC-SP, Lieutenant General Varela, and around thirty officials, who will also be enlisted, will be moved to the Mont Valérien in France in order to carry out the command of the designated operation.

 

Lieutenant General Varela's Point of view

Teniente General Varela

Lieutenant General Varela (Foto:CGTAD/Brigada Aragón I)

"After a very demanding year throughout which the NATO Rapid Deployable Spanish Corps (NRDC-SP) has acted as the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF),
we now face another challenge which, we are sure, contributes to the safety of our citizens: the command of the Military Headquarters of the European Rapid Operational Force (Eufor) for the second half of 2017.

 

 

NATO, as specified at the Defence Ministers Summit, looks further to the south, and wants to work together with other key multinational players in the area of security and defence.

 

For the NRDC-SP, it is an opportunity to put everything learnt from previous international missions at the service of the EU, making it clear that a European Union more commited to defence, and in close collaboration with NATO, will achieve a more safer Europe that is more able to confront threats.

 

In this second rotation, we are also sending Spanish, Portugese and Italian troops, with the selected OHQ being in France. This is the realisation of our commitment to a European Union and a NATO that looks more towards the South, as agreed by the Defence Ministers of France, Italy, Portugal and Spain at the Porto Summit (Portugal) on the 6th February."

 

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