The Spanish authorities have given a demonstration of their naval and aeronautical force to convince the European Union to choose Rota as the operational headquarters (OHQ) of the EU military operation Eunavfor Atalanta.
“Impressive” was the adjective on all lips following the Spanish demonstration. “The Spanish managed to get a lot of people on side, it was a successful communications operation”, said a source close to the dossier, highlighting the presence of diplomats and military personnel from all four corners of the EU to watch the exercise from a vessel of the Armada.
For the occasion, Spanish officers had developed the scenario of an anti-piracy operation within a fictional hostile region peppered with inter-ethnic conflicts, closely resembling Atalanta’s actual theatre.
This EU military operation, which was launched in December 2008, is a contribution to the deterrence, prevention and repression of acts of piracy and armed theft off the coast of Somalia. It was extended by two years in 2016, with a budget of more than €11 million (see EUROPE 11677).
Following a massive drop in attacks in the first years of the operation, from 176 in 2011 to 0 in 2015, the region saw an increase in acts of piracy in 2017, with a total of seven attacks, according to official EU statistics.
The prospect of Brexit at the end of March 2019 has forced the Europeans to look for a new OHQ for Atalanta, as manoeuvres are currently managed out of Northwood in the UK.
An OHQ, typically made up of 80 to 230 soldiers depending on the type of operation, is a military infrastructure set up to command forces of between 600 and 600,000 troops engaged several thousand kilometres away.
Spain is vying with Italy to host the headquarters of the EU anti-piracy mission. The Foreign Affairs Council will decide between the two candidates in May. The decision made will be enshrined at the June European summit.
Spanish involvement in CSDP highlighted
The Spanish Defence Minister, María Dolores de Cospedal, highlighted Spain’s military commitment in the EU, observing that twelve missions had been led by Spanish officers in the last ten years. Spain is also the only country with a permanent presence off the coast of Somalia since 2008 and is the largest contributor to the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP).
According to the chief of staff, Fernando Alejandre Martínez, the complexity of Atalanta requires an OHQ that is fully devoted to it. This argument aims to help the Spanish application stand out from that of Italy, whose military base in Rome is already being used for the EunavforMed Sophia operation off the coast of Libya.
“Rota is strategically located alongside the Gibraltar Strait and often used by the American army. It has proven its worth”, stressed General Alejandre Martínez.
Pedro Serrano De Haro Soriano, deputy secretary general of the European External Action Service (EEAS), expressed his enthusiasm, on the sidelines of the Spanish demonstration. He considers that “structures created in Brussels are meaningful only in action, in operations of this kind”. He also observed that beyond a simple military exercise, the day would contribute to progress on certifying the Rota base as OHQ.
At the moment, the EU has five approved OHQs: Mont Valérien in France, Larissa in Greece, Northwood in the UK, Potsdam in Germany and Rome in Italy. The certification of the Rota base is expected to be made official shortly, independently of whether it is appointed to host the headquarters of the Atalanta operation. (Original version in French by Mathieu Solal, intern)