The representatives of EUROGENDFOR Member States reviewed ongoing and future activities, all of them dedicated to crisis management or crisis prevention through supporting non-EU countries, including:

– Ongoing deployments for Afghanistan (NATO Resolute Support Mission), Mali (EUCAP Sahel Mali) and Central African Republic (EUTM RCA);

– Planned or potential further contributions in support of Mali (MINUSMA), Tunisia (EU funded project in partnership with the Tunisian National Guard) and Libya (EUBAM);

– Strengthening of relations with EU and international partners: EUROCORPS, the European Security and Defence College (ESDC), the College Européen de Police (CEPOL), FRONTEX, EUROPOL, INTERPOL, the United Nations, and NATO, among others.

Most works also addressed a wider objective, linking EU external and internal security: how to further contribute to the security of EU citizens by preventing and mitigating external threats and risks, such as terrorism, organised crime or massive smuggling of migrants, before they impact the EU Member States territories.

The EUROGENDFOR Working Group in Session.

The European Gendarmerie Force is directed at strategic level by a “High Level Interdepartmental Committee” or “CIMIN”. This CIMIN is presided every year by a different Member State, and supported by a Working Group. On 8 March 2017, the first quarterly Working Group met in Madrid under Spanish Presidency for 2017.

2017 represents a very special milestone year for the European Gendarmerie Force, it being the 10th Anniversary of the Treaty of Velsen establishing the European Gendarmerie Force, signed in October 2007 in The Netherlands.