European Union HELlas – Bulgaria – ROmania – Cyprus Battle Group (EU HELBROC BG) will conduct a Command Post Exercise (CPX “EVROPI I/07”) from 07 to 12 May 2007 and a live crisis management exercise (LIVE CME “EVROPI II/07”) from 14 to 19 May 2007, at ASKOS–PROFITIS training area, inside the territory of the Republic of Greece. EVROPI I and EVROPI II/07 exercises are sponsored by the European Union and will be jointly executed, for the first time, by the HELBROC EU Battle Group.

         All four HELBROC BG nations have been involved in the planning of EVROPI I & II, while more than 1200 troops will take part in the exercises. Specifically, participation is as follows:

         Host nation, Greece, with one battalion, supported by air force, logistic and engineer units;
         Bulgaria, with one light infantry company;
         Cyprus, with one military police platoon and one medical platoon and
         Romania, with one NBC platoon and one PSYOPS team.

         The main goal of “EVROPI I” and “EVROPI II/07” is to conduct a coherent and complex action and achieve a level of interoperability among participating multinational elements. The exercise is designed to practice EU crisis management procedures, specialized on humanitarian assistance and evacuation operations, in order to improve EU’s ability to manage crises.

         The scenario of the exercises describes a hypothetical crisis situation raised on a fictitious island called “MESOGEIOS”. A minority of MESOGEIOS citizens are organised in paramilitary groups and among other violent actions, they are acting aggressively against a wide number of EU citizens residing on the island. Atrocities against refugees that arrive to the island from a fictitious islander country, called BROWNLAND, have also been reported. The scenario includes a preliminary operational planning for the activation and employment of HELBROC BG, in order to prevent a humanitarian disaster and conduct evacuation operations, if necessary. These actions will take place after a UN mandate and an EU directive.

         Media coverage is scheduled on the final phase’s episodes of the exercise “EVROPI II/07”, on the 17th of May 07, These episodes focus on Humanitarian Assistance missions for the refugees living on the island and Evacuation Operations of EU citizens.

                                                               Emmanuel Velonias
                                                                   Captain, HN
                                                            HNDGS Spokesman