Brussels, 15/06/2009 (Agence Europe) - The General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC) of Monday 15 June took the political decision to extend by one year, until 13 December 2010, the maritime operation EU NAVFOR Atalanta, deployed to combat acts of piracy off the coast of Somalia (see EUROPE 9799). The General Affairs Council extended to include the defence ministers which will meet in November (16-17 November) is to adopt a common action to give this decision legal value. In the conclusions adopted on Monday, the Council notes that so far, operation Atalanta has demonstrated its capacity to act effectively against piracy, which will continue to be a serious threat after the date initially scheduled for the operation to end (13 December 2009). The Council also notes that an early agreement on extending the operation should help to facilitate the process of generating forces for the second year of the operation. It is worth noting that on Friday 12 June, NATO decided to activate its own anti-pirate operation in the region (Operation Ocean Shield), for which the legal and operational parameters are currently being negotiated.
The 27 also recently started discussions on reinforcing Europe's commitment in Somalia. The permanent representatives of the 27 to COPS (the political and security committee) on Friday 5 June debated the possibilities of contributing to the creation of Somali security forces, at European level. At this stage, however, it is just the beginning of the reflection process. An initial battalion (around 500 strong) is to be trained by France in line with the commitment declared by the country at the conference of the donors for Somalia last April. Currently, 14 vessels and three marine surveillance aircraft of six member states (France, Germany, Sweden, Greece, Italy and Spain) are taking part in operation Atalanta. The Netherlands and Belgium will join the operation in August and September of this year respectively. (A.By./transl.fl)