Margarita Robles stresses the importance of EU and NATO unity in the current situation

The Minister for Defence during a visit to the Eurocorps Headquarters in Strasbourg (France)

Spain's commitment to the European Union and NATO is evident in the Headquarters of Eurocorps, which Spain joined two years after its creation in 1992. Spain is one of the framework nations of this multinational military and common defence cooperation force, along with Belgium, Luxembourg and Poland, as well as the countries behind the initiative, France and Germany.

Margarita Robles, together with the Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral General Teodoro López Calderón, visited Spanish personnel deployed in Strasbourg. Some 122 military personnel and two civilian personnel undertake different tasks in Eurocorps, which is a symbol of Europe and European defence whose capabilities include providing versatile command and control and specialising in crisis management.

It is a unique space because of its duality, able to operate in both the EU and NATO spheres. In fact, it is EU Force Headquarters and is certified as a NATO High Readiness Force (HRF) and NATO Response Force (NRF) headquarters.

This dual capacity was one of the issues highlighted by the Minister for Defence, who referred to "the importance of unity between the countries that make up the EU and NATO to face the complicated times we are living through".

On this point, she reiterated "the pride that we Spaniards feel in having such a well-prepared Armed Forces with such a high international commitment".

Missions and the future

The unit has participated in peacekeeping and crisis management missions in the Balkans, Afghanistan and EU training missions in Africa, operations that have consolidated its experience in multinational deployments and its ability to coordinate international forces.

Following the adoption of the 'Vision 2026+' by the framework nations, the Eurocorps' main function is to form a joint headquarters focused on crisis response ground operations, with a multi-domain operational capability.

Non official translation