The international geopolitical climate is increasingly tense, with the risk of military escalation looming large. This has brought the issue of European common defense forcefully back into the political agenda, as a single state would not be able to handle it alone. However, the European Union seems incapable of reaching a decision, risking playing a secondary role on the global stage compared to the great powers. The topic of European common defense was also discussed in a recent debate organized by the "Italy Protagonist" foundation at the Senate, during which Italian military leaders did not hold back criticism of Europe, describing it as "unable to organize common defense" and lacking "a foreign policy." General Teo Luzi, the Commander General of the Carabinieri, cited the example of Vicenza, where "for 18 years there has been a European command, which is a common house for seven militarily organized police forces. It can operate in low-intensity missions abroad to maintain stability after a conflict. Well, in 18 years it has never been activated." The general was referring to the headquarters of the European Gendarmerie Force, also known as Eurogendfor, located inside the Chinotto barracks on Via Medici, the headquarters of the Carabinieri's Center of Excellence for Stability Police Units.
Italy, France, Portugal, the Netherlands, Romania, Spain, and Poland are all part of it. Their tasks and powers are regulated by the Treaty of Velsen. "It is up to the political will of the member countries of the European Gendarmerie to decide whether or not to activate this tool, which is very important because it allows deploying, within 30 days of the decision of the member countries, up to 800 men and women in any scenario outside Europe where there is a need to bring stability police to support local populations in order to stabilize, as the word itself says, fragile countries emerging from a conflict or still in the midst of one," explains Brigadier General Giuseppe De Magistris, director of CoESPU. He adds: "It is a very effective tool in principle because it is built on the experience of the multinational specialized units that the Carabinieri successfully deployed in 1998 in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in 1999 in Albania and Kosovo, and then in Iraq. These are police structures deployed in operational theaters to carry out typical police activities, but temporarily replacing local police forces that are usually inefficient or have been completely wiped out by war." As the director of CoESPU emphasizes, the Eurogendfor "is not the police of Europe, but a permanent headquarters that does not deploy troops itself," nor does it have anything to do with "international police cooperation, which is another matter." The headquarters mainly consists of staff officers and non-commissioned officers, totaling about forty people, who mainly engage in planning and research activities. Only if the national authorities participating in the Eurogendfor were to decide to activate it, could it send members of the headquarters and forces provided by the police of the member countries to the identified scenario. "But never, ever, as the treaty says, can they be deployed in the territory of sovereign countries," reiterates De Magistris. "The European Gendarmerie is available to all international organizations to bring stability police to recipient countries, which are fragile and must request it. The legal framework is important. It is usually crystallized by a resolution of the UN Security Council."
(GdV, domenica 21 aprile)