Italian General Fronda takes over command of EUFOR in Bosnia

Italian General Maurizio Fronda will lead the military contingent for the next year. The force was established in 2004 as part of Operation Althea, when the EU took over the peacekeeping mandate in Bosnia and Herzegovina from NATO.

From an initial force of around 60,000 NATO troops deployed in Bosnia and Herzegovina following the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement in 1995, the international military mission has now been scaled down to just over 1,000 soldiers. These form a multinational manoeuvre battalion, largely staffed by personnel from European countries, with smaller observation teams deployed across the country.

Operation Althea is essentially based on the Berlin Plus agreement, which defines NATO support in the event of crises and the need for more extensive military intervention.

Command of the forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina was handed over to the Italian general by Romanian General Florin Marian Barbu, who led EUFOR over the past year, with the handover conducted by French General Ludovic Pinon de Quincy, the operational commander of Operation Althea.

During the ceremony, the generals said that Operation Althea remains vital to ensuring stability not only in Bosnia and Herzegovina but across the wider region, and that the EU remains committed to this goal.

The new EUFOR commander is a two-star general with experience from previous missions in Bosnia and Herzegovina and has also taken part in international military operations in Libya and Afghanistan.