Spanish CHOD visits the Guardia Civil's Coordination Centre for maritime surveillance of coasts and borders

• This is General Villarroya's first visit as chairman of the National Maritime Security Council

The Chief of Defence (JEMAD in Spanish), Air General Miguel Ángel Villarroya, visited the Guardia Civil's Coordination Centre for  maritime surveillance of coasts and borders (CECORVIGMAR in Spanish).

He was accompanied by the Commander of the Operations Command, Lieutenant General Francisco Braco, and the Commander of the Maritime Operations Command, Admiral José Luis Sobrino.

The CHOD was received with official honours and during his visit he learned about the capabilities of the National Coordination Centre (NCC) of the European Surveillance Network (EUROSUR) that is located within the CECORVIGMAR facilities, in the General Directorate of the Civil Guard, in Madrid.

Specifically, he was briefed about the way in which all information on migratory flows is managed, the surveillance of external borders as well as the liaison and exchange of information with other national bodies and with other Member States.

On a ppt presentation, General Villarroya checked the capabilities of the Civil Guard related to border control and he also got an update on the current situation.

The CHOD is the head of the National Maritime Security Council, a collegiate body that supports the National Security Council as Delegate Committee of the Government for National Security. It is the body that dictates the National Maritime Security Strategy of Spain and plan its actions.

NATIONAL COORDINATION CENTRE

The Civil Guard, within the framework of its duties in the custody, control and surveillance of the coasts and maritime areas in which Spain has sovereignty or jurisdiction and the associated migratory flows, has hosted the NCC for ten years, a body that coordinates in Spain all the information related to borders and migratory flows.

The NCC has the responsibility of keeping updated the national scorecard that describes the situation of the borders, and especially with regard to migratory flows ('National Situation Picture').

It is part of the EUROSUR network in which operational information is exchanged among the different national coordination centres of the rest of the EU countries and the FRONTEX agency itself in order to maintain a coordinated surveillance of the borders and a constant exchange of information on border, migratory and illicit traffic events that may occur at European borders.