General Pitarch starts his official visit to Romania

Invited by the Romanian Chief of Defence, Eurocorps Commander meets the authorities of this nation, next to join Eurocorps Headquarters.

Bucharest, 6th October 2008. - The Spanish Lieutenant General Pedro PITARCH, Eurocorps Commander, has traveled today to Romania for an official visit, responding to an invitation of the Romanian Armed Forces General Staff.

Romania has recently decided to join Eurocorps Headquarters, in a general extension process of the unit, opened by its five framework nations, Germany, France, Belgium, Spain and Luxembourg, in which, not only Romania, but also Italy and the United States of America will join the existing four sending nations, Poland, Austria, Greece and Turkey. On the other hand Poland will also increase substantially its participation and has applied to become the sixth framework nation of Eurocorps.

The Romanian Armed Forces, NATO member since year 2004 and European Union member state since January 2007, are in a transformation and modernization process with the goal to improve their efficiency, effectiveness, flexibility and compatibility with the NATO standards. Eurocorps Commander will have the opportunity to corroborate it by visiting some units of the Romanian Army.

Eurocorps, celebrating this year its 15th anniversary, experiences a moment of special relevance, being remarkable that the European Parliament adopted last June, and by a significant majority, a resolution dedicated to the ESPD (European Security and Defence Policy) in which, among other questions, “proposes to place Eurocorps as a standing force under EU command and invites all Member States to contribute to it”. This paragraph was approved by a vast majority in a separated vote.

 

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