FEDERAL MINISTER FOR EUROPEAN AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS OF THE REPUBLIC OF AUSTRIA VISITS OPERATION IRINI’S HEADQUARTERS IN ROME
On 8 July, Rear Admiral Guillaume FONTARENSKY, Deputy Commander of Operation IRINI, and the staff at the Operational Headquarters (OHQ) in Rome had the honor of officially welcoming the Federal Minister for European and International Affairs of the Republic of Austria, Ms. Beate MEINL-REISINGER. She was accompanied by H.E. Dr. Martin EICHTINGER, Ambassador of Austria to Italy, along with a high-level diplomatic delegation.
At the start of the visit, Minister MEINL-REISINGER greeted representatives from the 23 EU Member States contributing to Operation IRINI, expressing her appreciation for their strong commitment and notable achievements.
The Deputy Commander, Rear Admiral FONTARENSKY then provided a concise and clear presentation of the Operation in order to highlight IRINI’s main tasks and emphasized the clear evolution of the Operation over the past year in diversifying its missions. In particular, he stressed the importance of having renewed dialogue with the Libyan authorities to strengthen communication and initiate cooperation. He also underlined the evolution of the Operation’s mandate, with the addition of a new Maritime Situational Awareness task (MSA) to safeguard EU interests in the Mediterranean. Finally, he noted the significant initiative taken by IRINI to develop what had until now been a secondary task, Capacity Building & Training (CB&T) which also serves to strengthen dialogue with the Libyan authorities. In this context, the DCOM recalled the importance of this initiative being supported by EU’s Member States.
This visit provided a valuable opportunity to present the activities and achievements of the Operation to a high representative of a contributing Member State and to highlight the increased relevance of the presence of EUNAVFOR MED Operation IRINI’s naval and air assets in the crucial area of the Mediterranean.
In this scenario, the Operation continues to play a key role in supporting Maritime Security in the Mediterranean, in line with the EU’s Maritime Strategy, being supported by a strong political and diplomatic will of EU Member States, by a solid operational coordination between its OHQ in Rome and its task force at sea and the daily and highly professional work of its multinational staff.
