The ceremonial handover of EUFOR command duties will take place today at the Butmir base. At the ceremony, the new commander of EUFOR, Major General László Sticz from the Hungarian Armed Forces, will officially mark the handover of command duties together with the former commander of EUFOR, Major General Helmut Habermayer from the Austrian Army.
In addition to others, as announced by EUFOR, the operational commander for Operation “Althea” in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Lieutenant General Hubert Cottereau, will attend this event. The ceremony will be followed by a military parade with the presentation of military equipment.
Hungarian General Sticz takes command of the EUFOR mission after 11 generals from Austria have been engaged in that position since 2009. Prior to that, command responsibility for the EUFOR mission was held by Great Britain, Italy, Spain and Germany.
Operation “Althea”, formally known as EUFOR (European Union Forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina), is an international force operating under the authority of the European Council. The military operation was launched on December 2, 2004, nine years after the end of the war in BiH, succeeding the peacekeeping mission of the former SFOR (Stabilization Forces) under the command of NATO.
The European Union initially deployed a military force (EUFOR) at the same manpower level as NATO SFOR (around 7,000 troops), to ensure continued compliance with the Dayton Agreement.
In addition to the mission oriented towards providing support for a safe and stable environment in Bosnia and Herzegovina, EUFOR, in accordance with its mandate, is also engaged in collective and combined training of members of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
A total of 23 countries, including member states of the European Union and countries that are not, are present as part of EUFOR.
As part of EUFOR, contingents from – Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Chile, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, North Macedonia, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey.
EUFOR, among other things, maintains a network of 19 Liaison and Observation Teams (LOTs) throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Photo: Archive
