EUFOR Althea

EUFOR Althea logo

European Union Force Althea (EUFOR Althea) is a military deployment in Bosnia and Herzegovina to oversee the military implementation of the Dayton Agreement. It is the successor to NATO's SFOR and IFOR. The transition from SFOR to EUFOR was largely a change of name and commanders: 80% of the troops remained in place.^[1] It replaced SFOR on 2 December 2004.

General Aspects

Civilian implementation of the Dayton Agreement is enforced by the Office of High Representative. EUFOR has 2,503 troops from 27 countries,^[2] mostly from the countries of the European Union. There are however, additional troops from other countries such as Chile and Turkey.

EUFOR's commander is currently Major General Dieter Heidecker (Austria), since December 2012.^[3] For this mission, the European Union Military Staff is using NATO's Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) as the EU's Operational Headquarters (OHQ) and is working through the Deputy to the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, a European officer.

The EUFOR assumed all the missions of the SFOR, except for the hunt for individuals indicted by the war criminals tribunal, notably Radovan Karadžić, former leader of Republika Srpska, and Ratko Mladić, their former military leader, which remained a mission for NATO^[1] through NATO Headquarters Sarajevo.^[4] The EUFOR does have police duties against organised crime, which is believed to be linked to suspected war criminals.^[5] It worked with the European Union Police Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (EUPM) and with the Bosnian Police.

As of September 2012, the total force of EUFOR are at 900 troops from 26 nations. The Troop-Contributing Nations (TCNS) are as follows: from the EU: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and the UK; and from outside the EU: Albania, Chile, Macedonia, Switzerland, and Turkey.^[6]

Commanders

No.	Nation	Rank	Name	Period
1	United Kingdom	Major General	David Leakey	02.12.2004 – 06.12.2005
2	Italy	Major General	Gian Marco Chiarini	06.12.2005 – 05.12.2006
3	Germany	Rear Admiral	Hans-Jochen Witthauer	05.12.2006 – 04.12.2007
4	Spain	Major General	Ignacio Martín Villalaín[7]	04.12.2007 – 04.12.2008
5	Italy	Major General	Stefano Castagnotto	04.12.2008 – 03.12.2009
6	Austria	Major General	Bernhard Bair	04.12.2009 – 06.12.2011
7	Austria	Major General	Robert Brieger	06.12.2011 – 03.12.2012
8	Austria	Major General	Dieter Heidecker	03.12.2012 - 17.12.2014
9	Austria	Major General	Johann Luif	17.12.2014 - present

See also

• Military of the European Union
• European Union rapid reaction mechanism
• Common Security and Defence Policy

References

1. "EU troops prepare for Bosnia swap". BBC. 23 October 2004.
2. EUFOR Troop Strength (1 November 2007)
3. Council of the European Union press release, 4 December 2008: Javier Solana, EU High Representative for the CFSP, congratulates Stefano CASTAG9OTTO on taking office as EU Force Commander of EUFOR ALTHEA
4. http://www.afsouth.nato.int/NHQSA/index.htm
5. Evans, Michael (29 November 2004). "EU force to take on pimps, drug barons and smugglers". The Times. Retrieved 13 January 2007.
6. "EUFOR Fact Sheet - Countries of EUFOR". EUFOR. Retrieved 2008-02-01.
7. EUFOR change of command ceremony

Further reading

• Le Monde (in French)
• EUFOR Althea: Appraisal and Future Perspectives of the EU’s Former Flagship Operation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, EU Diplomacy Paper 7/2011
• Dominik Tolksdorf The Difficulties of the European Union in Supporting the Europeanization of Bosnia and Herzegovina EU Frontier Policy Paper, Budapest: Center for EU Enlargement Studies – Central European University, 2011

External links

• Official EUFOR website
• The Council of the European Union's page on EUFOR-Althea
• The European Union Special Representative (EUSR) for Bosnia and Herzegovina
• the European Commission's Delegation to Bosnia & Herzegovina
• European Defense
• Swiss Military Department EUFOR page (in French)