CHOD attends the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Eurocorps’ founding

• The event took place at the ‘Aubert de Vincelles’ barracks in Strasbourg

The Chief of Defence (JEMAD in Spanish), Admiral General Teodoro E. López Calderón, along with the Defence Ministers of Belgium and Luxembourg, the Polish Vice Minister for Defence and his counterparts from the Member States of this organization, took part in the anniversary ceremony. The event, chaired by Lieutenant General Peter Devogelaere, Commanding General of the Eurocorps, was attended by 600 military, 150 guests and numerous former members of the Eurocorps, as well as relatives of military personnel based in Strasbourg.

During his speech, Lieutenant General Devogelaere highlighted the duality of the Eurocorps as a military unit that can be deployed both for the European Union and for NATO. A duality that has been pursued by all the Framework Nations from the beginning and has recently led Eurocorps to deploy troops in Mali and the Central African Republic in 2021/22 for the EU as part of their training missions (EUTM), which will certify them as NATO Response Force Headquarters in 2024 and that will prepare them to become the European Union Battlegroup Headquarters (EUBG) in 2025.

After the ceremony, attendees had the opportunity to visit an exhibition of Eurocorps material and vehicles and a simulated Joint Operations Centre, just as it is operated by Eurocorps in NATO and EU missions.

The Eurocorps was set up in 1992 at the initiative of France and Germany. Over the last 30 years it has proved its professionalism in almost all NATO and EU theaters of operations, turning it into one of the most widely deployed and experienced Army Corps Headquarters in Europe.