The President of the European Parliament, Mrs Fotyga, invited the EUROGENDFOR Commander to participate in the meeting of the Subcommittee on Security and Defence held on October 1st in Brussels, in order to present the EGF and its added value at the service of the European Union and its Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP).
The CIMIN Presidency was also represented by M. Vlad Ionescu, the Romanian representative at the CIVCOM (EU Council Committee for Civilian Aspects of Crisis Management).
Particularly supported by the recent examples of EUROGENDFOR’s commitments in Central African Republic (EUFOR RCA) and Mali (EUCAP Sahel Mali), Colonel Philippe RIO was able to stress the benefits that the Force and the military status of its personnel are providing towards a quick European response to external crises.
The meeting was an opportunity to highlight the decisive role that the EGF plays in protecting civilians and fighting criminal impunity, underpinned by the recent grounds of EUROGENDFOR deployment of an Integrated Police Unit (IPU) in Bangui.
The invitation of the European Parliament to the EUROGENDFOR Commander underlines the interest of the European Parliament in engaging Gendarmeries in missions abroad as recent news on terrorism and illegal immigration attest the link between external crisis and EU’s internal security.
