Chief of General Staff, Admiral Ph.D. Gheorghe Marin will participate Thursday, May 17, in the Day of Distinguished Visitors, of the EVROPI II exercise of the EU HELBROC Combat Group organized in ASKOS-PROFITS shooting-range, Greece, invited by his counterpart Admiral Panagiotis Chinofotis.

The European Union Combat Group, comprising Greece-Bulgaria-Romania-Cyprus (EU HELBROC BG) develops between May 14 and 19, on the territory of the Hellenic Republic a real crisis management exercise financed by the European Union.

This is the first joint activity of the EU HELBROC BG. All the four implied states effectively participated in planning the exercise for the participation of 1,200 military. Romania is participating with an NBC Platoon and a PSYOPS team with 40 military.

The main aim of the exercise is the development of a coherent and complex action and the reach of interoperability between the participating multinational forces. They also aim to train in the European Union crisis management proceedings, focused on humanitarian assistance and operations of evacuation.


A tactical combat group is a structure at Battalion level including the elements of combat support and direct support with strategic transport capacity and sustain in the theater of operations for 30-120 days. The unit must have the capacity to be deployed in 5-10 days mainly for the crisis management missions and it could be used in Petersberg type missions, too (humanitarian and rescue missions, peacekeeping missions and missions of combatant forces for crisis management, peace-imposing, too) and the missions defined by the Strategy of European Security.
The European project of combat tactical groups initiated by France, Germany and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in February 2004 was approved by the Defense Ministers of the EU member states and transformed into an European concept launched during the Ministerial Conference for the engagement of military capacity in November 2004.
Now, 22 states announced their contributions, Romania inclusively, for the establishment of 19 tactical combat groups. Starting 2007, the European Union must be able for a simultaneously two military operations with the use the combat groups. For this, they conceived a mechanism by which two such groups are permanently in stand-by for a six months period of time.
Romania was in favor of participation in the establishment of two tactical combat groups, thus:
- one with Greece as frame-nation with the participation of Bulgaria and Cyprus; the group will be set at the EU disposal in the second term of 2007;
- one with Italy as frame nation with the participation of Turkey; the group will be set at EU disposal in the second term of 2010.

General Staff Public Information Office