The European Maritime Force (EUROMARFOR or EMF) is a multinational naval force,[1] able to carry out naval, air and amphibious operations and its composition depends on the mission given.
EUROMARFOR was born in 1995 when France, Italy, Portugal and Spain agreed to create a tailored force in order to fulfill missions defined in the Petersberg’s Declaration, such as sea control, humanitarian missions, peacekeeping operations, crisis response operations (pre-emptive deployment, maritime patrolling, mine clearing, etc.) and peace enforcement.
Dedicated in priority to EU (the force is included in the EU Force Catalogue at the minimum level of a task group with the capacity to provide a deployable high readiness maritime headquarters as a Maritime Component Command (MCC)), EUROMARFOR can be deployed either in a NATO environment, acting as part of the European branch of NATO, or acting upon the mandate of other international organizations, such as UN, OSCE or any other multinational coalition.
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The command structure of EMF reflects the non-standing character of the force.
The political-military lead of EUROMARFOR is the High Level Inter-Ministerial Committee (CIMIN), at the top level of EUROFORCES organization, assisted by a Politico-Military Working Group (POLMIL WG) as its executive branch. The CIMIN ensures the politico-military direction of the participating nations, establishes the conditions for the employment of the force and issue directives to COMEUROMARFOR.
Under the POLMIL WG, among other working groups there is the EMF Subworking Group (EMF SG), which is composed by representatives from each one of the Nation’s Naval General Staffs. This EMF Subworking group advices the POLMIL WG on specific Naval issues and express the National Naval Staff’s view on specific issues of own competence like standard operation procedures and organic matters.
The Operational Commander of the force is the COMEUROMARFOR (CEMF), who is designated every two years in a rotational basis among the National Naval Authorities (NNAs) of the 4 countries, namely:
The CEMF Operational Headquarter (OHQ) is the NNA national OHQ and his staff as CEMF relies both on his own existing National Staff and the EMF Permanent Cell (EMFPC) for the accomplishment of the duties assigned.
The Permanent Cell is composed by a Director (a Captain) from the same country of the CEMF, 4 naval officers as National Representatives from France, Italy, Portugal and Spain, 2 naval officers as Observers from Greece and Turkey and a support secretary.
When the Force is activated, there are three levels of command:
COMGRUEUROMARFOR is appointed, by the CIMIN, upon the activation of the Force.
EUROMARFOR is a non-standing multinational maritime force, which, although constituted by four nations, is open to other EU nations.
Depending on the nature of the operation, the size of the force may range from a small task group, made of a few ships, to a full range task force consisting of aircraft carriers, escorts and support vessels, and an amphibious component, as necessary to accomplish the task. For each task the required force and organization will be commonly agreed by participating nations. Furthermore, the force can incorporate units from non-EUROMARFOR nations, for training purposes or real world operations.
EUROMARFOR is a Response Force, tailored to the mission given, which can be activated within 5 days once the activation order is received.
EUROMARFOR foundations are anchored back in June 92, when the Petersberg’s Declaration, with its associated missions, was signed by the ministers of foreign affairs from the European Union (EU) nations.
After a process of consultation that started in 1993, France, Italy, Spain and Portugal demonstrated their willingness to contribute to the accomplishment of such missions by signing on May 15, 1995 the declaration of Lisbon, that formally created the EUROFORCES (with the maritime component as EUROMARFOR and the land component EUROFOR).
Upon its creation in 1995 the EMF grew fast and as a successful project.
In 2001 naval officers from Greece and Turkey joined EUROMARFOR as observers showing the intentness of these two countries to became permanent members of the EMF.
The periods at sea in operations and exercises were increasing every year and amongst several important missions accomplished the EMF (despite being a recent organization) was deployed during this period in to 3 Real World Operations (RWO).
The first one was Operation Coherent Behaviour in the Eastern Mediterranean. This operation, the first autonomous operation of EMF history, was done under the 4 EUROMARFOR Nations mandate. In Coherent Behaviour EMF was working in close coordination with the NATO authorities, in the same area of Operation Active Endeavour and for the same purpose (performing a mission of Intelligence gathering, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) from October to November 2002.
On completion of this first RWO other challenge was accepted by the EMF and the force was once again committed to a new RWO supporting the International Coalition in the Indian Ocean in the Operation Enduring Freedom. Under the nickname of Operation Resolute Behaviour the EMF took part in the Operation Enduring Freedom from January 2003 to December 2005 and took over the command of the operation in alternate periods performing a total of 1 year commanding the Task Force in the area. This mission for its duration and area of operations was a major effort and a demonstration of the strong commitment of EMF nations to fight side by side with the international community in the global war against the terrorism. At the same time, this operation was the final step to make EMF a well-known and mature force and to demonstrate its ability to operate and command operations anywhere around the world.
During this initial period, not only through RWO but also through a challenging schedule of exercises, EMF Tours (to show the flag and exercise with other countries navies) and Cooperation Exercises with the South Mediterranean Countries, EMF visibility and international recognition were growing significantly.
Recently, EUROMARFOR was deployed under the aegis of the United Nations leading (as CTF 448) the Maritime Task Force (MTF) UNIFIL for one year period, from March 2008 to February 2009. This RWO deployment showed once again EMF flexibility and ability to work under aegis of different organisations. This was an historic deployment because was the first time in history that UN was leading a Maritime Operation and also because EMF was for the first time deployed under the UN aegis. Since its creation, EUROMARFOR has been activated for a total of 42 months of real world operations.
| Period | Name | Nationality |
|---|---|---|
| 2 October 1995 | Almirante Manuel Acedo Manteola | Spain |
| 7 October 1996 | Vice-amiral d’Escadre Philippe Durteste | France |
| 22 October 1997 | Ammiraglio di Squadra Umberto Guarnieri | Italy |
| 14 February 1998 | Ammiraglio di Squadra Paolo Giardini | Italy |
| 9 October 1998 | Vice-Almirante Reis Rodrigues | Portugal |
| 14 October 1999 | Almirante Francisco Rapallo Comendador | Spain |
| 14 September 2001 | Ammiraglio di Squadra Quinto Gramellini | Italy |
| 16 September 2003 | Vice-amiral d’Escadre Alain Dumontet | France |
| 20 September 2005 | Almirante Angel Tello Valero | Spain |
| 31 August 2006 | Almirante Fernando Armada Vadillo | Spain |
| 17 September 2007 | Ammiraglio di Squadra Giuseppe Lertora | Italy |
| 29 April 2009 | Ammiraglio di Squadra Luigi Binelli Mantelli | Italy |
| 15 September 2009 | Vice-Almirante José Saldanha Lopes | Portugal |
| 28 November 2010 | Vice-Almirante José Monteiro Montenegro | Portugal |