On 19 September, in Lisbon, in front of a representation of naval units and crews from France, Italy, Portugal and Spain, the handover ceremony of the command of the European Maritime Force (EUROMARFOR) between the commander in chief of the Italian naval team, squad admiral Donato Marzano (transferor) and the commander of the Portuguese fleet (naval commander) squad admiral Henrique Gouveia E Melo (accepting).
The ceremony, presided over by the Chief of Defense of Portugal, General Artur Neves Pina Monteiro, was held in the presence of the military leaders of the EUROMARFOR countries, including the Chief of Staff of the Navy, team admiral Valter Girardelli and of civil and military authorities.
Italy gives up the command taken on the 15 September of the 2015. During the two-year period of Italian command, the Naval Force participated in the operation Atalanta and to training activities aimed at dialogue and cooperation with the Mediterranean countries, in particular with Tunisia and Morocco during Multicooperative Exercises 16 and 17.
As stated by Admiral Marzano in his farewell address: "during the recent activation of May, with 9 ships from the four nations, the most significant Euromarfor naval group in recent years was created, engaged in training activities in the main forms of struggle, including the war on mines and in cooperation with North African partners demonstrating that Euromarfor is a concrete reality, ready to operate at sea in national and European interests."
In taking the lead, Admiral Gouveia E Melo traced the guidelines of his mandate in line with previous activities, aimed at the security and defense of national and European interests against terrorism and illicit trafficking from Gibraltar to the Central Mediterranean.
The Chief of Defense Staff, General Claudio Graziano expressed his personal thanks to Admiral Marzano "for the excellent work carried out for Italy at the service of Europe, which in this particular moment of crisis in the Mediterranean area is called upon to play its role as a security provider also through the promotion of collaborations between forces to further increase its capacity and interoperability, necessary for the full security of our countries".
Euromarfor is a naval force - not permanent - established on 15 May 1995 by France, Spain, Italy and Portugal capable of carrying out the main missions defined in the Petersberg Declaration, such as maritime control, humanitarian assistance and evacuation of populations, maintenance and reacquisition of the conditions of peace and crisis management.
Euromarfor's activity is also aimed at strengthening cooperation with the nations of the Mediterranean Dialogue (Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia) and the 5 + 5 initiative (which involves ten Western Mediterranean nations: Algeria, France, Italy, Libya, Malta, Mauritania, Morocco, Portugal, Spain and Tunisia).
