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The EGF Headquarters conducted its second Command Post exercise (CPX), in the framework of a comprehensive International Crisis Management involvement under the aegis of the European Union, from the second half of March until the end of April 2006. The exercise, named EGEX 06, was developed taking into account a wide spectrum of operational issues as well as all the aspects of crisis management operations, including legal and political matters, relations with media and international organizations.

In particular, the simulated scenario, adopted as the basis for the EGF operations and already subject to deep studies within the European Union, was a realistic situation taken from a mix of existing international crises, in which the collapse of local police and social structures led to a strong EGF mandate encompassing the full range of possible police functions, from substitution to strengthening of local police.

EGEX 06 was divided into two parts; the first phase was aimed at testing the HQ capacities in planning two different police missions at the same time. It was developed in Vicenza (Italy), seat of the Permanent Headquarters, and was concluded with the elaboration and approval of two Operational Plans (OPLANs) for the EGF operations.

The execution, carried out from the 25th to the 27th April, was preceded by the arrival and training of the augmentees for the exercise. The aim of this phase was to evaluate the capabilities of the Permanent HQ, acting at operational level in Vicenza (Italy) to run and conduct the most demanding mission, with a Force HQ, playing at tactical level, and interoperable forces deployed to Valdemoro (Spain). The exercise was developed through a series of incidents and injections, at different decisional levels, created by a multinational staff created ad hoc from the participating Countries in order to test the HQs readiness to provide effective responses in short time.

The interest towards EGF initiative, confirmed by the presence of a high number of international observers from the relevant international organizations and/or Countries, present during the execution phase, was further emphasized by the high visibility given to EGEX 06 by the international and national media, in occasion of two VIPs events organized respectively in Vicenza and Valdemoro.

After the end of the exercise a comprehensive evaluation process was activated, including reports drafted by external and internal evaluation teams, whose lessons learned will be taken into account with a view to the attainment of the EGF full operational capability.